ad better when you are lying in bed. That would
not do because the wall's all wrong said Mother. I said nothing more and
she didn't either. I like much better to sleep on a sofa than in a bed,
because I like to snuggle up against the back. I'm so glad Mother
didn't notice anything. One has to be so frightfully careful not to give
oneself away when one knows everything.

November 25th. I have just been reading a lovely story; it is called
_A True Heart_ and is about a girl whose betrothed has had to leave her
because he has shot a man who was spying on him. But Rosa remains true
to him till he comes back after 10 years and then they marry. It's
simply splendid and frightfully sad at first. I do love these library
books, but when we were at the elementary school I knew all the books
they had and the mistress never knew what to give me and Hella. In the
high school we get only one book a month, for the Frau Doktor says we
have plenty of work to do, and that when we are not at work we ought to
be out in the fresh air. I can't manage to go skating every day. I do
love the Gold Fairy, that is my name for _her_, for I hate her real
name. Inspee declares that they call her Stasi for short, but I don't
believe that; most likely they call her Anna, but that's so common.
Thank goodness Hella always calls me Rita, so at school I'm known as
Rita. It's only at home that they will call me Gretl. The other day I
said to Inspee: If you want me to call you Thea you must call me Rita;
and anyhow I won't let you call me Gretl, that's what they call a little
girl or a peasant girl. She said: I don't care tuppence what _you_ call
me. All right, then, she shall be Dora till the end of time.

November 27th. Father has been made Appeal Court Judge. He is awfully
glad and so is Mother. The news came yesterday evening. Now he can
become President of the Supreme Court, not directly, but in a few years.
We shall probably move to a larger house in May. Inspee said to Mother
that she hoped she would have her _own_ room where she would not be
_disturbed_. How absurd, who disturbs her, I suppose I do? Much more
like she disturbs me, always watching while I'm writing my diary. Hella
always says: "There really ought not to be any elder sisters;" she's
jolly well right. It's a pity we can't alter things. Mother says we are
really too big to keep St. Nicholas, but I don't see why one should ever
be too big for that. Last year Inspee got something from St.