Anna watched her in consternation.
"See to what I have come—see to what I have come!" said the agitated lady under her breath but with passionate intensity, as she passed and repassed her dismayed hostess; "oh, to have fallen so low! oh, to have fallen so low!"
"So low?" echoed Anna, greatly concerned.
"At my age—I, a Treumann—I, a geborene Gräfin Ilmas-Kadenstein—to live on charity—to be a member of a charitable institution!"
"Institution? Charity? Oh no, no!" cried Anna. "It is a home here, and there is no charity in it from the attic to the cellar." And she went towards her with outstretched hands.
"A home! Yes, that is it," cried Frau von Treumann, waving her back, "it is a home, a charitable home!"
"No, not a home like that—a real home, my home, your home—ein Heim," Anna protested; but vainly, because the German word Heim and the English word "home" have little meaning in common.
"Ein Heim, ein Heim," repeated Frau von Treumann with extraordinary bitterness, "ein Frauenheim—yes, that is what it is, and everybody knows it."
"Everybody knows it?"
"How could I think," she said, wringing her hands, "how could I think when I decided to come here that the whole world was to be made acquainted with your plans? I thought they were to be kept private, that the world was to think we were your friends——"