ared
under the bed.

The maid stood on the threshold, soaked.

Mr. Tiralla burst into a loud laugh. "What a blockhead you are, to be
sure!" he shouted, slapping his thighs. "Good heavens, was there ever
such an idiotic person! Don't stare at me so stupidly. Come, come, you
needn't begin to cry directly. Go and fetch some more coffee."

"The Pani will hit me," the girl sobbed. "I'm so frightened, so
terribly frightened."

"Sophia," shouted Mr. Tiralla, who had had a very good night, "Sophia,
this stupid girl has spilt the coffee; now don't hit her."

Mrs. Tiralla was already on the spot. She grew deadly pale and then
burning red as she saw the sweetened coffee running along the ground
like a brown stream.

The servant ducked down; now the mistress would be sure to hit her. But
she did nothing of the sort. She did not even raise her hand in menace,
she simply said, "It wasn't to be. Make him some more coffee." Then she
fetched a cloth and wiped it up with her own hands, collected the
broken bits of china, and said nothing more.

Marianna felt quite confused. She had never broken anything without
being punished for it by her different mistresses. And to-day she
hadn't even got a box on the ears nor been threatened with one. She
went about like a dog on the scent; there was something wrong here. The
place was haunted. She kept her eye on the mistress, but she was
sitting in the room near the window reading. The master had gone into
[Pg 49] the fields to try to shoot a hare; and Rosa was at school. Oh,
if only she had had a soul to speak to.

The maid felt oppressed, as though a very important secret were
weighing her down. Besides, she really did feel as if she had a heavy
weight on her chest. What could it be? She had to draw her breath the
whole time, and she could not swallow; she felt as if she were choking.
Oh, how terrified she was! And then she had such an awful thirst, her
mouth was quite parched. She staggered to the bucket; she wanted to
drink, but she could not. Holy Mother, why could she not swallow? All
of a sudden she was seized with a fit of trembling, which grew so
severe that she had to sit down on the floor just where she stood. Oh,
how ill she felt. Her eyes grew dim, and she was bathed in
perspiration. Now she could not breathe at all. She tried to scream, to
cry for help; she could not do that either. She endeavoured to get up,
but she was perfectly stiff; her head felt as if it were in splint