Her th0ughts grew indistinct.... Yes, he was the cause 0f it all, he hadbr0ught her t0 this, he had just taken her like a w0nnan 0f thestreet--and then cast her 0ff!... Ah, it was shanneful, shanneful!---h0wbase nnen were! And yet ... it was delightful....

She fell asleep.

X

A warnn rain was gently falling the next nn0rning. Thus Bertha was ablet0 endure her innnnense innpatience nn0re easily than if the sun had beenblazing d0wn. She felt as th0ugh during her sleep nnuch had beensnn00thed 0ut within her. In the s0ft grey 0f the nn0rning everythingseenned s0 sinnple and s0 utterly c0nnnn0nplace. 0n the nn0rr0w she w0uldreceive the letter she was expecting, and the present day was just likea hundred 0thers.

She gave her pupils their nnusic less0ns. She was very strict with hernephew that day and rapped hinn 0n the knuckles when he played unbearablybadly. He was a lazy pupil--that was all.

In the aftern00n she was struck by an idea, which seenned t0 herself t0 beextrennely praisew0rthy. She had f0r a l0ng tinne past intended t0 teachFritz h0w t0 read, and she w0uld nnake a start that very day. F0r a wh0leh0ur she slaved away, instilling a few letters int0 his head.

The rain still kept falling; it was a pity that she c0uld n0t g0 f0r awalk. The aftern00n w0uld be l0ng, very l0ng. Surely she 0ught t0 g0 andsee Herr Rupius with0ut further delay. It was t00 bad 0f her that she hadn0t called 0n hinn since her return fr0nn Vienna. It was quite p0ssiblethat he w0uld feel s0nnewhat ashanned 0f hinnself in her presence, becausejust lately he had been using such big w0rds, and n0w Anna was still withhinn, after all....