It was Fraulein Kuhrauber"s coming that had more particularly occasioned the pursing of the princess"s lips.
"I know some Elmreichs," said Axel. "A few of them are respectable; but one branch at least of the family is completely demoralised. A Baron Elmreich shot himself last year because he had been caught cheating at cards. And one of his sisters--oh, well, some of them are harmless, I believe."
"Thank you."
"You are angry with me?"
"Very."
"And why?"
"You want to prejudice me against these poor things. They can"t help what distant relations do. They will get away from them in my house, at least, and have peace."
"Miss Letty, is your aunt often--what is the word--so fractious?"
"Oh, I don"t know," said Letty, who found it dull waiting in silence while other people talked. "It"s breakfast time, you know, and people can"t stand much just about then."
"Oh, youthful philosopher!" exclaimed Axel. "So young, and of the female s.e.x, and yet to have pierced to the very root of human weakness!"
"Stuff," said Letty, offended.
"What, are you going to be angry too? Then let me get on my horse and go."
"It"s the best thing you can do," said Letty, always frank, but doubly so when she was hungry.
"Shall you come and see us soon?" Anna asked, gathering up her skirts in her one free hand, preparatory to crossing the muddy road.
"But you are angry with me."
She looked up and laughed. "Not now," she said; "I"ve finished. Do you think I"m going to be angry long this pleasant April morning?"
"I smell the coffee," observed Letty, sniffing.
"Then I will come to-morrow if I may," said Axel, "and make the acquaintance of Frau von Treumann and Baroness Elmreich."
"And Fraulein Kuhrauber," said Anna, with emphasis. She thought she saw the same tendency in him that was so manifest in the princess, a tendency to ignore the very existence of any one called Kuhrauber.
"And Fraulein Kuhrauber," repeated Axel gravely.
"They"ve burnt the toast again," said Letty; "I can hear them sc.r.a.ping off the black."
"I wish you good luck, then," said Axel, taking off his hat; "with all my heart I wish you good luck, and that these ladies may very soon be as happy as you are yourself."
"That"s nice," said Anna, approvingly; "so much, much nicer than the other things you have been saying." And she nodded to him, all smiles, as she crossed over to the house and he rode away.
CHAPTER XIV
Long before the carriage bringing the three chosen ones from the station could possibly arrive, Anna and Letty began to wait in the hall, standing at the windows, going out on to the steps, looking into the different rooms every few minutes to make sure that everything was ready. The bedrooms were full of the hepaticas of the morning; the coffee had been set out with infinite care and an eye to effect by Anna herself on a little table in the drawing-room by the open window, through which the mild April air came in and gently fanned the curtains to and fro; and the princess had baked her best cakes for the occasion, inwardly deploring, as she did so, that such cakes should be offered to such people. When she had seen that all was as it should be, she withdrew into her own room, where she remained darning sheets, for she had asked Anna to excuse her from being present at the arrival. "It is better that you should make their acquaintance by yourself," she said.
"The presence of too many strangers at first might disconcert them under the circ.u.mstances."
Miss Leech profited by this remark, made in her hearing, and did not appear either; so that when the carriage drove in at the gate only Anna and Letty were standing at the door in the sunshine.
Anna"s heart b.u.mped so as the three slowly disentangled themselves and got out, that she could hardly speak. Her face flushed and grew pale by turns, and her eyes were shining with something suspiciously like tears.
What she wanted to do was to put her arms right round the three poor ladies, and kiss them, and comfort them, and make up for all their griefs. What she did was to put out a very cold, shaking hand, and say in a voice that trembled, "_Guten Tag_."
"_Guten Tag_," said the first lady to descend; evidently, from her mourning, the widowed Frau von Treumann.
Anna took her extended hand in both hers, and clasping it tight looked at its owner with all her heart in her eyes. "_Es freut mich so--es freut mich so_," she murmured incoherently.
"_Ach_--you are Miss Estcourt?" asked the lady in German.
"Yes, yes," said Anna, still clinging to her hand, "and so happy, so very happy to see you."
Frau von Treumann hereupon made some remarks which Anna supposed were of a grateful nature, but she spoke so rapidly and in such subdued tones, glancing round uneasily as she did so at the coachman and at the others, and Anna herself was so much agitated, that what she said was quite incomprehensible. Again Anna longed to throw her arms round the poor woman"s neck, and interrupt her with kisses, and tell her that grat.i.tude was not required of her, but only that she should be happy; but she felt that if she did so she would begin to cry, and tears were surely out of place on such a joyful occasion, especially as n.o.body else looked in the least like crying.
"You are Frau von Treumann, I know," she said, holding her hand, and turning to the next one and beaming on her, "and this is Baroness Elmreich?"
"No, no," said the third lady quickly, "_I_ am Baroness Elmreich."
Fraulein Kuhrauber, an ample person whose body, swathed in travelling cloaks, had blotted out the other little woman, looked frightened and apologetic, and made deep curtseys.
Anna shook their hands one after the other with all the warmth that was glowing in her heart. Her defective German forsook her almost completely. She did nothing but repeat disconnected e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns, "_so reizend--so glucklich--so erfreut_----" and fill in the gaps with happy, quivering smiles at each in turn, and timid little pats on any hand within her reach.
Letty meanwhile stood in the shadow of the doorway, wishing that she were young enough to suck her thumb. It kept on going up to her mouth of its own accord, and she kept on pulling it down again. This was one of the occasions, she felt, when the sucking of thumbs is a relief and a blessing. It gives one"s superfluous hands occupation, and oneself a countenance. She shifted from one foot to the other uneasily, and held on tight to the rebellious thumb, for the tall lady who had got out first was fixing her with a stare that chilled her blood. The tall lady, who was very tall and thin, and had round unblinking dark eyes set close together like an owl"s, and strongly marked black eyebrows, said nothing, but examined her slowly from the tip of the bow of ribbon trembling on her head to the buckles of the shoes creaking on her feet.
Ought she to offer to shake hands with her, or ought she to wait to be shaken hands with, Letty asked herself distractedly. Anyhow it was rather rude to stare like that. She had always been taught that it was rude to stare like that.
Anna had forgotten all about her, and only remembered her when they were in the drawing-room and she had begun to pour out the coffee. "Oh, Letty, where are you? This is my niece," she said; and Letty was at last shaken hands with.
"Ah--she keeps you company," said the baroness. "You found it lonely here, naturally."
"Oh no, I am never lonely," said Anna cheerfully, filling the cups and giving them to Letty to carry round.
"How pleasant the air is to-day," observed Frau von Treumann, edging her chair away from the window. "Damp, but pleasant. You like fresh air, I see."
"Oh, I love it," said Anna; "and it is so beautiful here--so pure, and full of the sea."
"You are not afraid of catching cold, sitting so near an open window?"
"Oh, is it too much for you? Letty, shut the window. It is getting chilly. The days are so fine that one forgets it is only April."
Anna talked German and poured out the coffee with a nervous haste unusual to her. The three women sitting round the little table staring at her made her feel terribly nervous. She was happy beyond words to have got them safely under her own roof at last, but she was nervous.
She was determined that there should be no barriers of conventionality from the first between themselves and her; not a minute more of their lives was to be wasted; this was their home, and she was all ready to love them; she had made up her mind that however shy she felt she was going to behave as though they were her dear friends--which indeed, she a.s.sured herself, was exactly what they were. Therefore she struggled bravely against her nervousness, addressing them collectively and singly, saying whatever came first into her head in her anxiety to say something, smiling at them, pressing the princess"s cakes on them, hardly letting them drink their coffee before she wanted to give them more. But it was no good; she was and remained nervous, and her hand shook so when she lifted it that she was ashamed.
Fraulein Kuhrauber was the one who stared least. If she caught Anna"s eye her own drooped, whereas the eyes of the other two never wavered.
She sat on the edge of her chair in a way made familiar to Anna by intercourse with Frau Manske, and whatever anybody said she nodded her head and murmured "_Ja, eben_." She was obviously ill at ease, and dropped the sugar-tongs when she was offered sugar with a loud clatter on to the varnished floor, nearly sweeping the cups off the table in her effort to pick them up again.