Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1904-11-17

mere, Aunt hosdiuonu, WIN the view
into the garden
Anna Maria had, literally, no idea
of comfort, so her remark did not sur.
prise me. She lacked that charming
feminine faculty of making all the
surroundings pleasing with a few
flowers or a bit of graceful drapery.
The poor thing thought /, coming
from Berlin-to this dreary solitude!'
Anna Maria had suddenly turned
around to me, and her face, usually so
austere, was glowing with tenderness.
Aunt Rosamond,' she said, do you
know l am really glad the little
Susanna Mattoni is coming!'
And l am glad for you, Anna
Maria | replied, for you need a
friend
al need no friend she replied
bluntly, and how could that young
thing be companion for me? She
is child, a poor orphaned child, in
need Of love, and l will She broke
off, and hot blush spread over her
face.
"'You are still young yourself,
Anna Maria l interposed, and think
she must be seventeen years old
Years do not make the age, Aunt
Rosamond, but the soul, the nature,
the experiences. If God will, she shall
find in me rather a mother, for as
companion l am worth nothing.
should have to conform her to my
self-oh, never!'
Il knew that Anna Maria's whole
heart, usually so coldly closed, hao
opened to receive a fatherless and
motherless creature, to love it, in her
way, with all her might-in her way,
indeed, and that was not understood
by every one. How much time have
l spent in trying to fathom that
nature which apparently lay open to
every eye, against whose sharp cor
ners and angles almost every one ran.
who had anything to do with her.
Has Klaus gone to meet your
guest?' | asked.
No, he rode out into the fields.
Why should hep she rejoined. old
Maier drove away to S. yesterday,
and l think every second she must
come. l only hope it will be before
the approaching thunderstorm
breaks!'
''The unpleasant stiffness before the
threatening storm pervaded the out,
side world. l went up to Anna Maria
at the open window and looked at the
black clouds looming up in the
horizon. My eyes roved beyond the
trees in the garden, out into the
country; strangely near seemed the
dark forests and Dambitz with its
clumsy tower.
How near Dambitz looks / re-,
marked, and it is really so far away
Anna Maria turned quickly. Very
far she said listlessly.
'Sturmer still stays away | be-
gan, deslgnedly. felt compassion
for the man whom an incompre-
hensible whim of girl had driven
away into the world, just when he had
hoped to find home and heart; | had
once, for the space of half an hour,
imagined that she loved him.
IeCei'eu Ho answer, DuL ABOUT
the girls lips there lay such an ex-
preston of pride and defiant resolu-
ton that resolved never to mention
that name again. She gazed fixedly
at the dark clouds, and at last said, in
YEARLY oppressed tone: is not thai
the rumbling of carriage?
Perhaps the thunder replied.
But before we had closed the window
and | had looked around the room
again, Brockelmann stood. with
flushed face, before Anna Maria
Gracious Frauiein, she is-they are
here-God in Heaven!'
What is the matter?' asked Anna
Maria.
There are two of them, Fraulein,
and queer enough she looks-the old
woman, | mean. And thunderstorm
like this is just the time for them to
come to the house int
"The storm had indeed broken
loose, with thunder and lightning. ano
torrents of rain. The old woman
made haste to light the candles on the
great mantel, for it was almost dark
in the room.
They are coming upstairs al
ready she cried, and hurried out,
leaving the door open.
Anna Maria had not Interrupted the
old woman by word; it was not her
way to apprehend quickly a new turn
of affairs. SO she snuffed the candles
quite composedly and remained stand
ing by the mantel, so as to keep the
door in sight. Her face was as colo
and still again as usual, and did not
show the slightest trace of expecta-
ton or curiosity, nor did it alter when
in the doorway. But how shall / de-
scribe the young creature who, as
suddenly as in fairy-tale, stepped
over the threshold?
To be continued.