"'Anna Maria,' I said, softly, looking with moist eyes upon the old cradle in which she, in which Klaus had once lain, and which now stood here, a greeting of reconciliation to the heart of the young wife who had robbed her of her peace and happiness.
"Two days later there was a lively stir at Bütze. Unfortunately, a bad headache banished me to a sofa in my dark room, so that I could not welcome the young couple on the threshold of their home. But I heard up here the unusual moving about; the bell in the servants' room, which had been formerly so seldom used, rang a regular alarm, and there was such a slamming of doors and rushing and running about for the first few hours that I had to draw the thickest pillow over my aching head in order to have any quiet.
"Klaus came up to me very soon; he sat down quietly by my bed and pressed my hand.
"'You are glad to be at home again?' I asked kindly. 'How is your little wife?'
"'Thank you,' he replied, 'she is asleep now. I do not know; I must accustom myself to it first; it has been made so different, so strange, with all these alterations. And then'--he was silent--'one misses Anna Maria everywhere,' he added.
"'You incorrigible people, you!' I scolded vexatiously, 'Bend or break, but not yield, and then perish with longing for each other! A silly, stupid set you are!'
"He made no reply to that. 'After three months in the country,' said he, 'I will go and get her. Now it is better that Susanna should remain alone.'
"'You have been living very happily there?' I asked.
"'Oh, Heaven, yes!' he replied. 'The gay life was new to Susanna, and amused her delightfully. Thank God that we are here! How do you really like the rooms down-stairs?'
"'Well, they are very beautiful, Klaus, without doubt. But if I am to be honest, it was more comfortable before.'
"'Susanna is quite enchanted with them,' he continued. 'But I had a melancholy feeling when I found the sitting-room without the old stove, the great writing-desk, and Anna Maria's spinning-wheel. I really cannot sit in these spider-legged easy-chairs without fear of breaking down.' He laughed, but it had not a hearty sound.
"'Shall you be able to eat supper with us?' he asked.
"I promised to do so if I were well enough. If you will let me sleep a little longer now, Klaus, I shall be able to come down.' And then he went away.