Franka took the letter and tore open the envelope. “From Tante Albertine.... I can’t make out the wriggly handwriting very well. Please read the letter for me, Eleonore, will you?”
“Willingly. But what I said just now ... you are not vexed with me, are you?”
“Really, I did not notice what you said....”
“You seem very much disturbed. You have not told me as yet what happened to you.”
“Later, later—please read the letter first. Let us see what the good auntie has to say.”
Frau Eleonore read:—
My dear Child!
I have only just returned to the dear old Sielenburg, but I sit down to write you a few lines to tell you that we made the journey without mishap. Dear Adele is very much done up, to be sure, and quite cross; the trip did not gratify her at all. I, too, am much pleased to be at home again. Here we get so much of what we missed while away; for instance, respectful treatment by people. Here we are addressed with proper terms once again: “Kiss your hand,” or, “Saving your grace”—that to Adele—or, “at your command,” while the Swiss are so unmannerly; they called us “Madam,” and on the train one conductor spoke to me as “a woman”! It was, indeed, out of politeness; he pushed a passenger to one side, saying, “Let the woman pass.” I wanted to tell him that I was nothing of the sort, but one can’t enter into conversation with such clowns.
We had to stay another day after our “P.P.C.” call on you—Coriolan got the wrong tickets, and so we heard Helmer after all. It was so strange to see Uncle Eduard’s former secretary up there among the celebrities. He was so quiet at the Sielenburg, as if he could not count up to five. I could not make out what he said—it was all such a medley—exaggerated. He was always eccentric. He even presumed to cast his eyes on you. Who knows how it would have ended if I had not—for your advantage, you must know—upset his calculations and informed Uncle Eduard in good time. I am proud of that even to-day. Take care that he does not try his little game again; it might injure you with the prince.
Frau Eleonore stopped her reading—“I agree with Fräulein Albertine about that.”