ents, she felt, these first moments of being
alone with each of her new friends, precious opportunities for breaking
ice. It is true she had not been able to break much of the ice encasing
the baroness, but she was determined not to be cast down by any of the
little difficulties she was sure to encounter at first, and she looked
into Frau von Treumann's room with fresh hope in her heart.

What, then, was her dismay to find that lady walking up and down with
the long strides of extreme excitement, her face bathed in tears.

"Oh--what's the matter?" gasped Anna, shutting the door quickly and
hurrying in.

Frau von Treumann had not heard the gentle taps, and when she saw her,
started, and tried to hide her face in her handkerchief.

"Tell me what is the matter," begged Anna, her voice full of tenderness.

"_Nichts, nichts_," was the hasty reply. "I did not hear you knock----"

"Tell me what is the matter," begged Anna again, fairly putting her arms
round the poor lady. "Our letters have said so much already--surely
there is nothing you cannot tell me now? And if I can help you----"

Frau von Treumann freed herself by a hasty movement, and began to walk
up and down again. "No, no, you can do nothing--you can do nothing," she
said, and wept as she walked.

Anna watched her in consternation.

"See to what I have come--see to what I have come!" said the agitated
lady under her breath but with passionate intensity, as she passed and
repassed her dismayed hostess; "oh, to have fallen so low! oh, to have
fallen so low!"

"So low?" echoed Anna, greatly concerned.

"At my age--I, a Treumann--I, a _geborene_ Graefin Ilmas-Kadenstein--to
live on charity--to be a member of a charitable institution!"

"Institution? Charity? Oh no, no!" cried Anna. "It is a home here, and
there is no charity in it from the attic to the cellar." And she went
towards her with outstretched hands.

"A home! Yes, that is it," cried Frau von Treumann, waving her back, "it
is a home, a charitable home!"

"No, not a home like that--a real home, my home, your home--_ein Heim_,"
Anna protested; but vainly, because the German word _Heim_ and the
English word "home" have little meaning in common.

"_Ein Heim, ein Heim_," repeated Frau von Treumann with extraordinary
bitterness, "_ein Frauenheim_--yes, that is what it is, and everybody
knows it."

"Everybody knows it?"

"How could I think," she said, wringing her hands, "how could I think
when I