19
Minna was calling to her from the stairs. She went on to the landing to answer her and found her on the top flight dressed to go out.
“Ach!” she whispered as Miriam drew back. “Jetzt mag’ ich Sie leiden. Now I like you.”
She ran back to her room. There was no time to change. She fixed a brooch in the collar to make it come a little higher at the join.
Going downstairs she saw Pastor Lahmann hanging up his hat in the hall. His childish eyes came up as her step sounded on the lower flight.
Miriam was amazed to see him standing there as though nothing had happened. She did not know that she was smiling at him until his face lit up with an answering smile.
“Bonjour, mademoiselle.”
Miriam did not answer and he disappeared into the saal.
She went on downstairs listening to his voice, repeating his words over and over in her mind.
Jimmie was sweeping the basement floor with a duster tied round her hair.
“Hullo, Mother Bunch,” she laughed.
“It is weird, isn’t it? Not a bit the kind I meant to have.”
“The blouse is all right, my dear, but it’s all round your ears and you’ve got all the fulness in the wrong place. There.... Bless the woman, you’ve got no drawstring! And you must pin it at the back! And haven’t you got a proper leather belt?”