ecause the depressing atmosphere in the house was so little
to her taste that she even preferred to go to bed.

Mea had been hoping till now that her mother would find some means to
keep Leonore. If it could not be the way Apollonie planned, she might at
least stay for a long stretch of time. All of a sudden this hope was
gone entirely, and the day of separation was terribly near. The girl
looked so completely miserable when she started out for school next day
that the mother had not the heart to let her go without a little comfort.

"You only need to go to school two more days, Mea," she said. "Next week
you can stay home and spend all your time with Leonore."

Mea was very glad to hear it, but without uttering a word she ran away,
for everything that concerned Leonore brought tears to her eyes.

Leonore had been looking so pale the last few days that Mrs. Maxa
surveyed her anxiously. Perhaps the recovery had not been as complete as
they had hoped, for the news of the close date of her departure had
proved to be a great strain for her. Mrs. Maxa went about quite
downcast and silent herself. Nothing for a long time had been so hard
for her to bear as the thought of separation from the little girl she had
begun to love like one of her own, who had also grown so lovingly
attached to her. The pressure lay on them all very heavily. Bruno never
said a word. Kurt, standing in a corner with a note-book, was busily
scribbling down his melancholy thoughts, but he did not show his verses
to anyone, as the tragic feeling in them might have drawn remarks from
Bruno which he might not have been able to endure. Lippo faithfully
followed Leonore wherever she went and from time to time repeated his
consoling words, but he said them in such a wailing voice that they
sounded extremely doleful. Maezli alone still gazed about her with merry
eyes and was dancing with joy when she saw that it was a bright sunny
day.

"You can take a little walk with Leonore, Maezli," the mother said
immediately after lunch, as soon as the other children had started off to
school. "Leonore will grow too pale if she does not get into the open
air. Take her on a pretty walk, Maezli. You might go to Apollonie."

Maezli most willingly got her little hat, and the children set out. When
they had passed half-way across the garden Maezli suddenly stood still.

"Oh, I forgot something," she said. "I have to go back again. Please
wait for me, I won't be long."