the
matter I told him about God's displeasure; only I did not tell him
it was against him, but only against Dora and me. And then Father was
frightfully angry for the first time since Mother's death, and he told
Dora she was not to upset me with her ill-conditioned fancies, and Dora
nearly had an attack of palpitation so that the doctor had to be sent
for. Aunt came to sleep in our room and we both had to take bromide.
To-day Father was awfully kind to us and said: "Girls, you've no reason
to reproach yourselves, you have always been good children, and I hope
you always will be good." Yes, I will be, for Mother's eye watches over
us. Hella thinks I look very poorly, and she asked me to-day whether
perhaps . . . . ?? But I told her that I would not talk about such
things any more, that it would be an offence to my Mother's memory. She
wanted to say something more, but I said: "No, Hella, I simply won't
talk about _that_ any more. You can't understand, because your mother is
still alive."

June 12th. It is awful; just when I did not want to think any more
about _such_ things, there comes an affair of that very sort! I'm in a
frightful mess through no fault of my own. Just after 9 to-day a girl
from the Second came in to our Mathematic lesson and said: "The head
mistress wishes to see Lainer, Bruckner, and Franke in the office
directly." All the girls looked at us, but we did not know why. When we
came into the office, the door of the head's room was shut and Fraulein
N. told us to wait. Then the head came out and called me in. Inside a
lady was sitting, and she looked at me through a lorgnon. "Do you spend
much time with Zerkwitz?" asked the head. "Yes, said I," and I had a
foreboding. "This lady is Zerkwitz's mother, she complains that you talk
about very improper things with her daughter; is it so?" "Hella and I
never wanted to tell her anything; but she begged us to again and again,
and besides we thought she really knew it anyhow and only pretended she
didn't." "_What_ did you think she knew, and what did you talk to her
about?" broke in Anneliese's mother. "Excuse me," said the head, "I will
examine the girls; so Bruckner was concerned in the matter too?" "Very
seldom," said I; "Yes, the chief offender is Lainer, _the girl whose
mother died recently_." Then I choked down my tears, and said: "We
should never have said a word about these matters unless Anneliese had
kept on at us." After that I would not answer any mo