Her aunt put on her spectacles to examine the work.
“Wait!” she exclaimed. “I’ll call my sister.”
The other aunt was in the doorway, however, and joined her in examining the work.
“I see a missed stitch here!” she commented.
“Ah, yes, and a loose end there!” added the other. “It is growing dark. No knowing how many flaws we would find by daylight. To-morrow you will do better, I hope.”
And so the maiden grew. By the time she was eighteen, she could not only embroider tapestries, and play a dozen airs on her guitar and harp, but could write a short note, with not more than ten misspelled words, and could sign her own full name without missing a letter.
These accomplishments, in that day, were considered quite a finished education for a young lady.
On her eighteenth birthday the castle was in bustling excitement because there was to be an affair of utmost importance. And this affair was none other than a great family gathering to receive the intended bridegroom of the maiden.
Her father had promised her in marriage to the son of an old nobleman, a friend of his who lived in a distant province.
The parents had arranged all the details, and the young people were engaged to be married without even seeing each other. The time was appointed for the wedding, which was to take place at the home of the maiden on her eighteenth birthday.
The bridegroom had already set out on his journey and was expected to arrive at any moment.
The castle was in a tumult. The fair bride had been decked out with uncommon care. Her aunts had quarreled about every article of her dress, and while they were quarreling, she had made up her own mind about each article she would wear. The result was that she looked as lovely as a dream. The soft lustre of her eyes, the rose-petal hue of her cheeks, the quick rise and fall of her bosom, showed the excitement in her heart.
Meanwhile her aunts gave her all kinds of directions as to her behavior.
“When you first see him, my dear niece,” advised one aunt, “lower your eyes, as becomes a modest young lady.”
“Yes,” added the other aunt, “and when you courtesy, catch your skirts, so,” and she made a deep old-fashioned bow.
The old baron was no less busy with preparations than the others. Having, in fact, nothing to do but wait, he worried everybody else about every detail. He wandered from the top to the bottom of the castle, begging everybody to be diligent, and filling everybody with anxiety. He was naturally a bustling little man, and he buzzed about in every hall and chamber like a blue-bottle fly on a warm summer’s day.