Leonore had been looking so pale the last few days that Mrs. Maxa
surveyed her anxiously. Perhaps the recovery had not been as complete as
they had hoped, for the news of the close date of her departure had
proved to be a great strain for her. Mrs. Maxa went about quite
downcast and silent herself. Nothing for a long time had been so hard
for her to bear as the thought of separation from the little girl she had
begun to love like one of her own, who had also grown so lovingly
attached to her. The pressure lay on them all very heavily. Bruno never
said a word. Kurt, standing in a corner with a note-book, was busily
scribbling down his melancholy thoughts, but he did not show his verses
to anyone, as the tragic feeling in them might have drawn remarks from
Bruno which he might not have been able to endure. Lippo faithfully
followed Leonore wherever she went and from time to time repeated his
consoling words, but he said them in such a wailing voice that they
sounded extremely doleful. Maezli alone still gazed about her with merry
eyes and was dancing with joy when she saw that it was a bright sunny
day.
"You can take a little walk with Leonore, Maezli," the mother said
immediately after lunch, as soon as the other children had started off to
school. "Leonore will grow too pale if she does not get into the open
air. Take her on a pretty walk, Maezli. You might go to Apollonie."
Maezli most willingly got her little hat, and the children set out.
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