d, listless and shining on her knee. Solomon's
needle snapped. She frowned and roused herself heavily to secure another
from the basket on the floor at her side. Miriam, flashing hatred at
her, caught Fraulein's fascinating gaze fixed on Ulrica; and saw it
hastily turn to an indulgent smile as the eyes became conscious, moving
for a moment without reaching her in the direction of her own low chair.
A tap came at the door and Anna's flat tones, like a voluble mechanical
doll, announced a postal official waiting in the hall for Ulrica--with
a package. "Ein Packet... a-a-ach," wailed Ulrica, rising, her hands
trembling, her great eyes radiant. Fraulein sent her off with Solomon to
superintend the signing and payments and give help with the unpacking.

"The little heiress," she said devoutly, with her wide smile as she
returned from the door.

"Oh..." said Miriam politely.

"Sie, nun, Miss Henderson," concluded Fraulein, handing her the book and
indicating the passage Ulrica had just read. "Nun, Sie," she repeated
brightly, and Minna drew her chair a little nearer making a small group.

4

"Schiller" she saw at the top of the page and the title of the poem "Der
Spaziergang." Miriam laid the book on the end of her knee, and leaning
over it, read nervously. Her tones reassured her. She noticed that
she read very slowly, breaking up the rhythm into sentences--and
authoritatively as if she were recounting an experience of her own.
She knew at first that she was reading like a cultured person and
that Fraulein would recognise this at once, she knew that the perfect
assurance of her pronunciation would make it seem that she understood
every word, but soon these feelings gave way to the sense half grasped
of the serpentine path winding and mounting through a wood, of a glimpse
of a distant valley, of flocks and villages, and of her unity with
Fraulein and Minna seeing and feeling all these things together. She
finished the passage--Fraulein quietly commended her reading and Minna
said something about her earnestness.

"Miss Henderson is always a little earnest," said Fraulein
affectionately.

5

"Are you dressed, Hendy?"

Miriam, who had sat up in her bath when the drumming came at the door,
answered sleepily, "No, I shan't be a minute."

"Don't you want to see the diving?"

All Jimmie's fingers seemed to be playing exercises against the panels.
Miriam wished she would restrain them and leave her alone. S