d her voice. "That fool! It's
poison that I've got in my body. I've been poisoned; I'm going to
die--oh, oh!"

The man opened his eyes in amazement.

When Mrs. Tiralla noticed that he was listening intently to what
Marianna was saying she grew as red as she before had been pale. Then,
with a short, forced laugh, she said, "Nonsense. Poison? Where should
you have got it from? You're raving, my girl. Come," she added, helping
the girl to rise, "lean on my arm. You're already better, aren't you?
I'll put you to bed. I'll make you a strong cup of tea. I'll give you a
hot-water bottle. And then, when you're better, we'll see if one of my
petticoats will fit you; you must be dressed more warmly." She felt the
girl's thin skirt. "Why, she has nothing on. She must have caught cold.
I'll take care of her. You are better now, aren't you? Holy Mother!
Marianna, speak! You're better, aren't you?"

Marianna shook her head. She pretended to feel very wretched once more,
and, rolling her eyes, she began to groan and lean so heavily against
her mistress that they both stumbled.

Jendrek had to come to the rescue. They took the girl between them and
dragged her into the house and up the stairs to bed.

When the man saw how kind his mistress was to Marianna, he stared at
her in surprise. "What a good woman she must be," he thought to
himself.

Whilst Mrs. Tiralla was rubbing the servant's icy-cold feet and hands
she continued to repeat the same question, "You're better, aren't you?"

It touched Jendrek to see how anxious the good woman was. He thought
that he would like to be ill as well; and he made up his mind that he
would [Pg 52] groan like that next Monday and scream, "Poison, poison!"
and lie on the ground and roll about. It must be very nice to have your
cheek and forehead stroked by the mistress's soft hands, as she was
stroking Marianna's, and to see how she worried about you. And then she
had run into the kitchen and brought her a cup full of good, warm tea,
and had held it to her lips and said, "Drink, dear, drink."

But Marianna did not want to drink. She almost knocked the cup out of
her mistress's hand. And when the latter tried to persuade her in her
soft voice, "Do drink, it'll do you good," she answered pertly, "I'll
take precious good care I don't. I shall not drink it," and turned her
face to the wall.

Why on earth wouldn't she drink that good cup of tea? The man would
very much have liked to know that.