He must have been pleased
with something about you, or else why did he look at you so?"
There arose in her a quiet feeling of contentment, which was heightened
by the thought:
"Well, for once you have been looked upon as a person; until now you
have been nothing but a servant, a convenience for others. Good night,
Amrei--this has been a day indeed! But even this day must come to an end
at last."
CHAPTER XI
WHAT THE OLD SONG SAYS
[The memory of the handsome stranger, and of the dance, and of all the
new and wonderful emotions that had filled her heart on that eventful
day, to Amrei was a sacred one indeed; for weeks she thought of it by
day and dreamed of it by night. The jealous, sneering remarks of Rose,
and the half-serious, half-jesting utterances of other people, who had
been present at the wedding, meant nothing to her; she went about her
work all the more diligently and ignored it all. Black Marianne could
offer her no encouragement in her hope that the stranger would some day
appear again and claim her; she had waited all her life for her John,
and would continue to wait until she died.]
Spring had come again. Amrei was standing beside the flowers in her
window when a bee came flying up and began sucking at an open blossom.
"Yes, so it is," thought Barefoot; "a girl is like a plant; she grows up
in one place, and cannot go out into the world and seek--she must wait
until something comes flying to her.
Pages:
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148