And then they all went from the room and Bettina fell sound asleep, and did not move until the next morning.
But, no, she moved once, for her grandfather, coming into the room, waked her and asked her if she had taken the letter from her dress lining.
"Nein, grandfather," she had answered and then had gone off to sleep.
When next morning she opened her blue eyes, her grandfather was packing his bundle.
Her little heart sank and her eyes filled. Was she to go forth in the ice and the wet and the snow and that awful wind again?
"Nein, nein, little one," said the old man, patting her cheek very kindly. "You shall stay here with my good Mademoiselle Clara," for so he called Madame von Stork, as he had known her when she was as small as Bettina, and he explained that he was going alone, but would return in a day or two to Memel.
Then, sitting on her bed, he asked her question after question.
Had she told anyone of the letter, had a person touched her dress?
"Nein, grandfather, nein," she said.
At first she was quite certain.