Page:German Stories (Volumes 1–2).djvu/347

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The Sisters.
325

in doors. At that moment, too, the thought came painfully into my mind,—ever since my sister’s death, if I chanced to stay abroad till a late hour, my father used to send one of the servants with a warm cloak or shawl, but now it seemed as if I were quite forgotten. At that idea, I felt a chillness in every limb, which the evening, though now become cool, could not have produced. By chance I was gazing at a walk shaded by fruit trees, now in full blossom, which had been a favourite haunt of Seraphina’s, and methought I beheld there gleams of the same light which had alarmed us on the night after her funeral. I ran thither, in hopes that she herself might appear to me, but was disappointed,—the light vanished, and I returned quickly homewards.

“On entering the house, I found here also much that was unusual and perplexing. I had supposed that supper would have been kept waiting on my account, but it seemed not even to have been thought of—on the contrary, the servants were all running to and fro, in the utmost confusion, packing up clothes, furniture, books, and papers. ‘What means all this—who is go-