“SUBSTANTIAL HOUSEWIVES WHISPERED BEHIND HER BACK, ‘FIE! FIE!’”
Ursula, of course, heard from Freule Louisa what Freule Louisa had heard from her maid. So Ursula called to see the criminal. She had compromised with the ladies of her household, and only went to visit such patients as the doctor had certified free from any risk of infection. The village, knowing this, wrote her down a coward.
“May I come in?” asked Ursula at Klomp’s door.
No answer; for the door was locked, Klomp would not stir to open it, and Pietje dared not pass near her father. She cowered in her corner, stiller than any scratchy mouse.
Ursula rattled the lock in vain. Then she peeped through the window, darkening its dirt, and saw Pietje’s woful eyes staring out of the gloom from the floor. With the resolute movement she herself delighted in, she thrust up the low window from outside and stepped over the sill.
“Would you shut it, please, m’m, now you’re in?” said Klomp’s sleepy voice.
Ursula sat down in the middle of the room, facing Pietje’s dark corner.
“I’ve come to see you,” she said, very severely.