te house; of course, for a boarding
house would be far too dear for them. I do hope we shan't find
_anything_ suitable, we really did not find anything to-day, for a storm
was threatening and we did not go far. I do so hope we shall have no
better success to-morrow; for I really could not stand having Marina
here, she is such a spy. Thank goodness Aunt Dora and Dora are both very
much against their coming. But Father said: That won't do girls, she's
your aunt, and you must look for rooms for her. All right, we can _look
for them_; but seeking and finding are two very different things.

August 2nd. This morning we went out early to look for the rooms, and
since Dora always makes a point of finding what's wanted, she managed
to hunt up 2 rooms and a kitchen, though they are only in a farm. The
summer visitors who were staying there had to go back suddenly to Vienna
because their grandmother died, and so the rooms are to let very cheap.
Dora wrote to Aunt directly, and she said that we shall all be delighted
to see them, which is a downright lie. However, I wrote a P.S. in which
I sent love to them all, and said that the journey was scandalously
expensive; perhaps that may choke them off a bit. Owing to this silly
running about looking for rooms I saw nothing of the Weiners yesterday
afternoon or this morning, and of course nothing of God Balder either.
And at dinner we can't see the Scharrers' table because they have a
table in the bay window, for they have come here every year for the last
9 years. I'm absolutely tired out, but there's something I must write.
This afternoon the Weiners and we went up to Kreindl's, and Siegfried
Sch. came with us, for he knows the Weiners, who have been here every
year for the last 3 years. He talked chiefly to Dora, and that annoyed
me frightfully. So I said not a word, but walked well behind the others.
On the way home he came up to me and said: "I say, Fraulein Grete, are
you always so reserved? Your eyes seem to contradict the idea." I said:
"It all depends on my mood, and above all I hate forcing myself on any
one." "Could you not change places at table with your mother?" "In the
first place, she is not my Mother, who died on April 24th, but my Aunt,
and in the second place, why do you say that to _me_, you had better
say it to my sister!" "Don't be jealous! There's no reason for _that_.
I can't help talking to your sister when we're in company; but I can
assure you that you have no o