corner. "Ah! there he is; my friend!" She jumped up, and ran to meet him.
Maybe he would have regained his courage by the time he had reached the bench; but he was taken unawares, and his face was seen sooner than he anticipated, and so he was caught with a gloomy expression.
"Failure?"
"A failure, my friend."
"But it seemed to be so certain. How did it come to be a failure? "What was the reason, my dear?"
"Let us go home, my friend; I will go with you. We'll talk it over. I will tell you in a few words why it failed: but now let me think; I cannot collect my thoughts yet. We must think up some other plan. Let us not despair; we shall find something."
These last words gave him little hope, but not much.
"Tell me right away; I can't endure to wait. You say, 'Think up some other plan'; then it means that our former plans are impracticable. Can't I be a governess? How poor I am! how unhappy I am!"
"Why deceive you? 'Tis true, you cannot; I wanted to tell you so. But patience, my dear, patience! Be brave. Keep up good heart; whoever keeps up good heart succeeds!"
"Akh! my dear, I keep up good heart, but how hard it is!"
They walked for a few moments in silence. What is it? Why, yes, she is carrying something in her hand under her cloak!
"My dear, you are carrying something; here, let me take it."
"No, no, it's not necessary. It isn't heavy; it's nothing."
Again they go in silence. They go a long way.
"And to think I did not go to sleep till two o'clock out of joy, my friend; and when I went to sleep, what a dream I had! It seemed to me as though I were set free from a stifling cellar, as though I were paralyzed and then cured, and ran out into the field, and so many young girls ran out with me, who, like myself, were set free from stifling cellars, were cured of paralysis; and we were so happy, so happy to run about in the open field! The dream has not been realized; and I did so think that I should not have to go home again!"
