CHAPTER XVII
One hot August morning Lilly, with her arms full of dewy roses, herself besprinkled with dew from head to toe, entered the dining-room where Anna was making tea, looking lean and tall in her simple blue-grey linen gown. Her manner and greeting were the same as usual, yet Lilly divined instantly that something out of the ordinary had happened. She also noticed that Käte, the maid who helped old Ferdinand with the waiting, had red eyes, and was biting her lips till they bled almost as she laid the table. Käte was pretty and superior to the average servant-girl, also better educated, her father having been a schoolmaster. For this reason Fräulein von Schwertfeger had chosen her from among the other maids to help Lilly with her toilette.
When she had gone out of the room, Lilly began to ask questions.
Anna von Schwertfeger kissed her with redoubled tenderness and affection.
"My darling," she said, "why sully your pure mind with disagreeable matters? When people are bent on breaking their necks, what is the good of trying to prevent them?"
"If it's a question of breaking necks," thought Lilly, "Walter von Prell must have something to do with it."
Then she said aloud that she thought as mistress of the house she ought to know what was going on, especially as in future she intended to do the housekeeping herself.
The modesty of her "in future" impressed Fräulein von Schwertfeger favourably, and she yielded.
"I am sure it will give you pain," she said, "because I know you like him."
"Him!" echoed Lilly; and she was conscious that she blushed.