y too
delighted to see that we were enjoying something once more. And two days
before the excursion Dora finally decided that she would like to go;
I knew why at once; she thought that by that time all the places would
have been taken, and that we should have been told: Very sorry, no more
room. But luckily she had made a _great_ mistake. For the secretary
said: With pleasure; how many places shall I reserve? and so we said:
7; namely, Father, Dora, and I, Aunt Alma (unfortunately), Marina (very
unfortunately), and the two boys (no less unfortunately). "That will
need an extra conveyance," replied the secretary, and we thought we
should make a family party. But it was not so: Next Dora sat a gentleman
whom I had seen once or twice before, and he paid her a tremendous
amount of attention. Besides that there were 2 strange gentlemen,
Frau Bang and her 2 daughters and her son, who is not quite all there;
opposite was Hero Siegfried, a young lady who is I believe going on the
stage, the two Weiner girls and their Mother (notwithstanding!!!), then
I, and afterwards Marina, Father, Aunt Alma, and the two boys opposite.
I don't know who made up the other break-loads. At 6 in the morning we
all met outside the school, for the schoolmaster acted as our guide.
I did not know before that he has two daughters and a son who has
matriculated this year. First of all they held a great review, and the
gentlemen fortified themselves with a nip and so did some of the ladies;
I did not, for I hate the way in which a liqueur burns one's throat so
that every one, at any rate girls and ladies, make such faces when they
are drinking, that is why I never drink liqueur. I did not care much
about the drive out, for it was very cold and windy, most of us had red
noses and blue lips; I kept on biting my lips to keep them red, for one
looks simply hideous when one's lips are white or blue, I noticed
that in Dora when we were skating last winter. Father went only on our
account, and Aunt Dora stayed at home so that Aunt Alma could go. Marina
wears "snails" now, the sight of her is enough to give one fits. Dora
gets on with her quite well, which is more than I can say for myself.
Only when we got out aid I notice that Siegfried's sister, Fraulein
Hulda, had been sitting next the aspiring actress. She is awfully nice,
and many, many years ago she must have been very pretty; she has such
soft brown eyes, and her hair is the same colour as her brother's; b