In the middle of this agitating scene Maezli arrived, perfectly happy and filled with her recent experiences.  She wished to relate what the Castle-Steward had said to her and what she had said to him, and what had happened afterwards.  But no one listened because they were so deeply absorbed with their own disturbing thoughts.  They were not in the least interested in what Maezli had to say about the Steward, as they all thought that the steward was Mr. Trius.  That evening the unheard-of happened.  Maezli actually begged to go to bed before the evening song had been sung, because the depressing atmosphere in the house was so little to her taste that she even preferred to go to bed.

Mea had been hoping till now that her mother would find some means to keep Leonore.  If it could not be the way Apollonie planned, she might at least stay for a long stretch of time.  All of a sudden this hope was gone entirely, and the day of separation was terribly near.  The girl looked so completely miserable when she started out for school next day that the mother had not the heart to let her go without a little comfort.

“You only need to go to school two more days, Mea,” she said.  “Next week you can stay home and spend all your time with Leonore.”

Mea was very glad to hear it, but without uttering a word she ran away, for everything that concerned Leonore brought tears to her eyes.

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.  When they had passed half-way across the garden Maezli suddenly stood still.