nd yet I blamed myself, for every one
else thought her so kind for doing all this; and she herself meant
kindly, too.

At last I quitted the mill by the Neckar-side. It was a long day's
journey, and Fritz went with me to Carlsruhe. The Rupprechts lived on
the third floor of a house a little behind one of the principal
streets, in a cramped-up court, to which we gained admittance through a
doorway in the street. I remember how pinched their rooms looked after
the large space we had at the mill, and yet they had an air of grandeur
about them which was new to me, and which gave me pleasure, faded as
some of it was. Madame Rupprecht was too formal a lady for me; I was
never at my ease with her; but Sophie was all that I had recollected
her at school: kind, affectionate, and only rather too ready with her
expressions of admiration and regard. The little sister kept out of our
way; and that was all we needed, in the first enthusiastic renewal of
our early friendship. The one great object of Madame Rupprecht's life
was to retain her position in society; and as her means were much
diminished since her husband's death, there was not much comfort,
though there was a great deal of show, in their way of living; just the
opposite of what it was at my father's house. I believe that my coming
was not too much desired by Madame Rupprecht, as I brought with me
another mouth to be fed; but Sophie had spent a year or more in
entreating for permission to invite me, and her mother, having once
consented, was too well bred not to give me a stately welcome.

The life in Carlsruhe was very different from what it was at home. The
hours were later, the coffee was weaker in the morning, the pottage was
weaker, the boiled beef less relieved by other diet, the dresses finer,
the evening engagements constant. I did not find these visits pleasant.
We might not knit, which would have relieved the tedium a little; but
we sat in a circle, talking together, only interrupted occasionally by
a gentleman, who, breaking out of the knot of men who stood near the
door, talking eagerly together, stole across the room on tiptoe, his
hat under his arm, and, bringing his feet together in the position we
called the first at the dancing-school, made a low bow to the lady he
was going to address. The first time I saw these manners I could not
help smiling; but Madame Rupprecht saw me, and spoke to me next morning
rather severely, telling me that, of course, in my co