"And that was true. We heard her bell very rarely. She dressed herself and undressed herself; it took her several hours, it is true, but none of us was allowed to render her the slightest assistance; once, when one of the maids had come into her chamber while she was dressing, she was very angry, and ever after locked herself in. She had strange ways about her, the old lady. Thus she never was tired at night, and I have seen her wander about in her room till early dawn; but then she slept till late in the afternoon. At table she never had any appetite, but in her room she could eat and drink without end; sometimes she had two, and sometimes three bottles of wine sent up stairs. But the most remarkable thing was this: to-day she looked fifty, and tomorrow she looked eighty; at one time she was stone deaf, and at another time she could hear a mouse slip across the room; now she scarcely could drag herself along with her crutch, and then she came down the steps faster than I, although I was only sixty then, and quite active yet. I felt very uncomfortable about the old lady, and was glad when I could keep out of her way." "And what was Miss Marie doing in the mean time?" "She was almost always with Harald. I saw them together early in the morning, wandering among the dewy flowers in the garden, arm in arm; she with bashfully cast-down eyes, he talking eagerly to her. I saw them in the afternoon, sitting in the cool rooms which face the park; he reading aloud from a book, or more frequently his arm leaning on the back of her chair, and she looking up at him very happy, whereupon he would cast burning glances at her, and smooth from time to time her silken brown hair. I saw them in the evening, wandering once more in the garden, or slowly walking up and down in the brilliantly lighted rooms, while Aunt Grenwitz was sitting on the sofa, reading, or pretending to read. Ah! those were glorious times for the poor child, and she always looked so perfectly happy that I feared and trembled how it all was to end; and when she met me she always had a kind word for me: 'How are you, dear Mrs. Claus?' or, 'Can I help you, dear Mrs. Claus? You work too hard. I am ashamed to be so idle here.'