Then she went below, all worn out with her battle, but quiet and humble and wishing to help her mother.
And certainly there was need of her.
Carl and Ilse and Elsa were quarrelling violently, Bettina with frightened face struggling to quiet them. She had on her little apron and had brought dishes to try and set the table for supper. Marianne's face flushed. Pauline was above, nursing her mother, Bettina below, trying to quiet the children and get supper for the Professor, and she, the daughter of the "Stork's Nest," had been in her room in a temper. She took the dishes from Bettina and she separated Carl and the twins. For an hour she sat with them telling them stories. Then her eye fell on a volume of Goethe lying on a table where her father had left it.
A half hour later the Professor opened the door. His face darkened.
"Marianne," he said, "I expected better things of you."
With a start the girl laid down her book. Carl and Ilse were squabbling over the last piece of cake on the table, Elsa was looking at a valuable book with sticky fingers, the clock had stopped for want of winding, and Bettina had vanished into the garden.
Marianne flushed hotly.
"I am trying, father," she said, "very——"
Without a word he left the room, his face stern with displeasure.
Putting the book aside, Marianne wound the clock, she sent the children to bed, and sought Bettina in the garden.