"Ah, what a pity that you did not know her! She was full of life, and yet gentle withal; and when she spoke with you, she never looked to right or left. She never tried to create an impression, and yet in her presence one always felt exalted; and while her glance rested on one, it was impossible to indulge in vile or ignoble thoughts. What to others seemed exalted and great, was with her a matter of course. She practised and expressed all that is highest as easily as others say 'Good-morning.' In her hands, even the common-place became invested with beauty. She judged of people with love, and yet with freedom. "Thus, she once said, 'I felt inclined to be angry with Baroness Arven, because she does not understand her excellent husband; but he, on the other hand, does not do his wife justice. She is created for society--for interesting, witty small talk--and he desires to feed her soul with thoughts of nature and Fatherland. Fanaticism, in every one of its thousand shapes, endeavors to force its own convictions on others, and this is both good and evil at the same time.' "She said something to me which I have worn as an amulet, and it is, after all, but a simple maxim. "When I complained to her that it was so difficult with me to fix the proper relation towards others, she replied: "'Child, you do not maintain the right distance between yourself and others. With every one, even though it be a Rothfuss, you move into most familiar contiguity.' Her words impressed me deeply, and were of great help to me. "She understood herself, and that made every one else feel on sure ground. When one felt depressed or sad, without hardly knowing why, the mere fact that you were suffering was enough to arouse her sympathy: and that would always cure the pain. "But what avails it to speak of separate disconnected traits. I might as well try to give you an idea of a glorious symphony by singing a few bars of one of its melodies. When with her I felt in a higher world." Thus spoke Annette. She did not seem to notice that all were silent while she was talking. And then Bertha and Conny arose from their seats and covered her with their caresses. I could not move from the spot. I saw Richard rising, but he sat down again at once. Ludwig turned to him and said: "Her mind and her exterior correspond. At first she does not impress one as wondrously beautiful; but, day by day, she grows in loveliness." This invocation of my wife had, for the time being, invested the festival with a certain solemn impressiveness; but soon mirth burst all bounds, and the young couple again became the centre of joy. Rontheim was so happy that he drank fellowship with the Major, with Ludwig, and with Richard. A blissful feeling of brotherly affection seemed to unite all.