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A station official went up to her, and, with poorly concealed ridicule at the rare phenomenon, asked her what she was waiting for. She turned her back on him, and started off. She came back by way of St. James’s Place, and talked for a quarter of an hour with her friend Frau Hadebusch. It was Sunday. Benjamin Dorn was just coming home from church. Seeing Philippina, he made a profound bow.
She did not feel like opening her heart to Frau Hadebusch, for she did not appeal to her as a disinterested party. This completed her list of friends; she was obliged to restrain her impatience and excitement. It was Christmas. On Christmas Eve they had bought a tree for Agnes, trimmed it, and lighted it with candles.
She thought for a second or two, and then replied: “Oh, yes, I’ll tell you what you can do. Go down to Frau Hadebusch’s! She’s a good friend of mine, and you c’n depend on her. It don’t make no difference what takes place in her house; it won’t bother even the cat. You know Frau Hadebusch! Of course you do. What am I talking about! She is a widow, and lives all alone in a little house.
“Shut up, you beast,” cried Daniel: “How long has she been suffering? Why didn’t you get the nurse?” “Can I leave the child here alone? Don’t growl so!” replied Philippina angrily. She went out for the nurse. In a half an hour she came back with her: it was Frau Hadebusch. Daniel had a disagreeable feeling.
Frau Hadebusch was too little concerned over the police regulations to take further thought of her duties as the keeper of a lodging house. Herr Francke drew from his pocket a pack of greasy cards and began to shuffle them. Frau Hadebusch giggled and it sounded like a witch rustling in the fire.
In a dark hour, Philippina had told her friend, Frau Hadebusch, that she had saved a good deal of money, and, equipped with this bit of earthly wisdom, Frau Hadebusch had gone to the Methodist, told him all about it, and put very serious matrimonial ideas in his head. Benjamin Dorn took infinite pains to gain Philippina’s good graces.
Frau Hadebusch did all she could to bring Philippina around, but every time she made a fresh onslaught Philippina put her off. But Philippina had never sung as she had been singing recently, nor had she ever been so light and nimble of foot. Every day she put on her Sunday dress and trimmed it with her choicest ribbons. She washed her hands with almond soap, and combed her hair before the mirror.
She nodded, she blinked, she folded her hands as if touched at the sight, and Herr Hadebusch raised his beer glass, eager to drink a toast to Daniel’s health. They could not quite make out who Eleanore was; they took her for Daniel’s wife. This misunderstanding, it seemed, was then cleared up by the Methodist after he had craned his neck and called his powers of recognition into play.
Daniel then hastened into Eleanore’s room; Frau Hadebusch tried to keep him out, but he pushed her to one side, gritted his teeth, and threw himself on the floor by Eleanore’s bed.
It was all so ghost-like in the room that it was some time before he knew just where to place them. Then it occurred to him where they came from. Herr Hadebusch and Frau Hadebusch, Herr Francke and Benjamin Dorn were having a little Sunday outing. The brush-maker’s wife was radiant with joy on seeing her old lodger.
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