"And so you are."
"—your guests——"
"Oh, more than guests—this is home."
"Home! Home! Always that word——" And she burst into a fresh torrent of tears.
Anna stood helpless. What she said appeared only to aggravate Frau von Treumann's sorrow and rage—for surely there was anger as well as sorrow? She was at a complete loss for the reason of this outburst. Had not every detail been discussed in the correspondence? Had not that correspondence been exhaustive even to boredom?
"You have told your servants——"
"My servants?"
"You have told them that we are objects of charity——"
"I——" began Anna, and then was silent.
"It is not true—I have come here from very different motives—but they think me an object of charity. I rang the bell—I cannot unstrap my trunks—I never have been expected to unstrap trunks." The sobs here interfered for a moment with further speech. "After a long while—your servant came—she was insolent—the trunks are there still unstrapped—you see them—she knows—everything."