There was a gentle knock at the door and his mother came in. She closed the door after her and leant against it. Andreas noticed that her cap was crooked, and a long tail of hair hung over her shoulder. He went forward and kissed her.
“Good-morning, mother; how’s Anna?”
The old woman spoke quickly, clasping and unclasping her hands.
“Andreas, please go to Doctor Erb as soon as you are dressed.”
“Why,” he said, “is she bad?”
Frau Binzer nodded, and Andreas, watching her, saw her face suddenly change; a fine network of wrinkles seemed to pull over it from under the skin surface.
“Sit down on the bed a moment,” he said. “Been up all night?”
“Yes. No, I won’t sit down, I must go back to her. Anna has been in pain all night. She wouldn’t have you disturbed before because she said you looked so run down yesterday. You told her you had caught a cold and been very worried.”
Straightway Andreas felt that he was being accused.
“Well, she made me tell her, worried it out of me; you know the way she does.”