her face now--"that's all?"

"Well--and we--we were very happy."

"How stupid!" he said, offended. "That's not 'being born.' Frau
Laemke told it quite differently. You don't know anything about it." He
looked at her doubtfully.

She evaded his glance, but he kept his eyes fixed on hers. It seemed
to her as if those scrutinising eyes were looking right down into her
soul. She stood there like a liar, and did not know what more to
say.

"You don't know anything about it," he repeated once more, bitterly
disappointed. "Good night." And he slouched to the door.

She let him go, she did not call him back to give her his good-night
kiss. She remained sitting without moving. She heard his steps in the
room above. Now he opened the door to throw his boots into the corner
outside, now she heard them fall--now everything was quiet.

Oh, what was she to say to him later on when he asked her questions
with full knowledge, a man justified in asking questions and demanding
an answer to them? She let herself fall into the chair on which he had
been sitting, and rested her head in her hands.

CHAPTER IX

The boy's friendship with the Laemkes was restricted. Her boy should
never go there again. In a manner Kate had grown jealous of the woman
who spoke of such improper things and did not mind what she said when
children were present.

Frau Laemke could not boast any longer of receiving a friendly
greeting from the fine lady. Frau Schlieben walked past her house now
without looking at her, and did not seem to hear her respectful: "Good
morning, ma'am."

"Tell me, Wolfgang, what have I done to your mother?" she asked the
boy one day when she had been out shopping and saw him again for the
first time for several months. He was leaning against the railing that
enclosed the plot of ground opposite their house, staring fixedly at
their door.

He gave a start; he had not heard her coming. And then he pretended
not to see her, and stood flicking the whip he held in his hand.

"Are you never coming to see us again?" she went on. "Have you been
having a fight with Artur or been quarrelling with Frida? No, it can't
be that, as they've been looking out for you so long. I suppose your
mother won't let you, is that it? Hm, we're not good enough any more, I
suppose? Of course not. Laemke's only a porter and our children
only a porter's children."

Her good-natured voice sounded mortified, and the boy listened
attentively. He t