The sight was distasteful to Johanna; she withdrew to the nearest window-recess, leaned her burning forehead against the pane, and looked out into the dripping rain. A carriage drove into the court-yard; had not the guests all arrived yet? She recognized the Thalrode hack, and when the servant, wrapped in a water-proof, who was sitting beside the driver, looked up, she thought she recognized him, and her heart seemed to stand still. "It is not possible," she thought. At that instant Leo rushed out of the house, barking loudly, leaped down the steps, and had nearly thrown himself under the wheels of the coach. The door was opened, and Johanna saw that she had not been mistaken. The Freiherr, assisted by Christian, got out of it. How she contrived to leave the ball-room she could not tell. She first collected her wits when she heard her grandfather's voice on the stairs, and she hurried to meet him. "Here is Johanna," he said, coldly. At his departure he had embraced her; now he only held out his hand, which she kissed, not knowing what to say. "I come at an inconvenient time. You have a party,--a dance, I hear. Go, go; don't let me interrupt it," he growled. "Stop!" he added, as she was retreating timidly; "I do not wish you to proclaim my arrival with that ghastly face. It shall not be said that the return of the master of the house scared away the guests from Dönninghausen. You may tell my sister that I am here, but no one else, and I will not see even Thekla until the fiddling is over; then I wish to speak to you all. All,--do you hear?--to Monsieur Otto especially." With these words he passed on, accompanied by Leo, who went on barking, whining, and wagging his tail in a rapture of welcome. Johanna stood dismayed. From the tone in which the Freiherr spoke, she saw only too clearly that he knew all. The many sounds from the ball-room pained her, and when she returned to it she seemed to be surrounded by the confused images of a dream. She withdrew more persistently than before into corners and window-recesses, and avoided Aunt Thekla. In spite of the commission she had received, she could not make up her mind to mention to her her brother's return. She feared lest the old lady should be unable to conceal her agitation. Nevertheless, the intelligence was not long suppressed. Perhaps some one of the guests had seen the Freiherr arrive, or one of the servants in spite of his prohibition had mentioned it. Groups were shortly seen whispering together here and there, Countess Klausenburg gave the signal for departure unusually early, and half an hour afterward the last carriage drove out of the court-yard. When Magelone and Otto, who had been taking leave of the guests, came up the stairs chatting gayly, they were confronted by Aunt Thekla and Johanna. "Do you not know," the old lady asked, "that your grandfather is here?" "The deuce he is! Then I'm off!" cried Otto.