But the German woman scarcely noticed her old pupil. Pushing past Geraldine, she rushed to Mrs. Douaine, and, to that lady’s utter astonishment, suddenly dropped on her knees.
“Oh, I have heard!” she cried, “I have heard the terrible news! I knew nothing until this morning. I never read your American newspapers now, but this morning the family where I am living were talking at the breakfast table, and I caught the name. I nearly fainted, and afterwards I read what was in the paper. Oh, it is too horrible—too horrible!” And Fräulein began to sob hysterically.
“I came as fast as I could,” she gasped; “I took the very first train. I am living in New Jersey, and it took some time, but I did not lose a moment.”
“I am sure you did not,” said Mrs. Douaine, kindly. “I know how fond you and Gretel were of each other. We have been trying to find you, but we did not know your address. I hoped you would come when you heard. Oh, do try to control yourself a little. I am afraid you will be ill. Geraldine dear, bring Fräulein a glass of water.”
“German sentimentality,” muttered Geraldine to herself, as she hurried away to the pantry. “I don’t believe she cares half as much as the rest of us do, and yet by the way she goes on, one might think she was Gretel’s own mother.”
Fräulein sipped the water, and was induced to rise from her knees, but she still continued to sob, and clung convulsively to Mrs. Douaine’s hand.
“I am not to blame, indeed I am not!” she declared between sobs. “It is not my fault that this frightful thing has happened. It is not my fault!”
“Of course it is not your fault,” Mrs. Douaine assured her. “No one has ever thought for a moment of blaming you in any way. The only reason we have been trying to find you was that we thought it just possible that you might have communicated with Gretel that day, and that she might have been on her way to see you when—when it happened.”
Fräulein shook her head.
“I had nothing to do with it,” she said. “I was not here. I have been governess to a family in New Jersey for the past month. She was coming one day, before she went to New London, but she forgot. She wrote to apologize to me for forgetting, and I thanked God on my knees that she had not come.”