Part 4

November 21st. In the religion lesson to-day Lisel Schrotter who is the Herr Catechist’s favourite, no we’ve got to call him Herr Professor, as she is the Herr Professor’s favourite, well she went to him with the Bible and asked him what _with child_ meant. That’s what they say of Mary in the Bible. The Schrotter girl does not know anything yet and the other girls egged her on till she went and asked. The Herr Professor got quite red and said: If you don’t know yet it does not matter. We shall come to that later, we’re still in the Old Testament. I was so glad that Hella does not sit next me in the religion lesson, because she’s a Protestant; we should certainly have both burst out laughing. Some of the girls giggled frightfully and the Herr Professor said to Lisel: You’re a good girl, don’t bother about the others. But Lisel positively howled. I would not have asked, even if I hadn’t really known. _With child_ is a stupid word anyhow, it doesn’t mean anything really; only if one knows.

November 22nd. When I was coming away from the religion lesson with Berta Franke the other day, of course we began talking about _it_. She says that’s why people marry, only because of _it_. I said I could not believe that people marry only for _that_. Lots of people marry and then have no children. That’s all right said Berta, but it’s quite true what I tell you. Then she told me a lot more but I really can’t write it all down. It is too horrid, but I shan’t forget. When I was sitting on Mother’s bed to-day I suddenly realised that Father’s bed is really quite close to Mother’s. I had never thought about it before. But it’s not really necessary now for we are all quite big. Still I suppose they’ve just left things as they were. Well dear, said Mother, what are you looking round so for? Of course I didn’t let on, but said: I was only looking round and thinking that if your bed was where the washstand is you could see to read better when you are lying in bed. That would not do because the wall’s all wrong said Mother. I said nothing more and she didn’t either. I like much better to sleep on a sofa than in a bed, because I like to snuggle up against the back. I’m so glad Mother didn’t notice anything. One has to be so frightfully careful not to give oneself away when one knows everything.

November 25th. I have just been reading a lovely story; it is called _A True Heart_ and is about a girl whose betrothed has had to leave her because he has shot a man who was spying on him. But Rosa remains true to him till he comes back after 10 years and then they marry. It’s simply splendid and frightfully sad at first. I do love these library books, but when we were at the elementary school I knew all the books they had and the mistress never knew what to give me and Hella. In the high school we get only one book a month, for the Frau Doktor says we have plenty of work to do, and that when we are not at work we ought to be out in the fresh air. I can’t manage to go skating every day. I do love the Gold Fairy, that is my name for _her_, for I hate her real name. Inspee declares that they call her Stasi for short, but I don’t believe that; most likely they call her Anna, but that’s so common. Thank goodness Hella always calls me Rita, so at school I’m known as Rita. It’s only at home that they will call me Gretl. The other day I said to Inspee: If you want me to call you Thea you must call me Rita; and anyhow I won’t let you call me Gretl, that’s what they call a little girl or a peasant girl. She said: I don’t care tuppence what _you_ call me. All right, then, she shall be Dora till the end of time.

November 27th. Father has been made Appeal Court Judge. He is awfully glad and so is Mother. The news came yesterday evening. Now he can become President of the Supreme Court, not directly, but in a few years. We shall probably move to a larger house in May. Inspee said to Mother that she hoped she would have her _own_ room where she would not be _disturbed_. How absurd, who disturbs her, I suppose I do? Much more like she disturbs me, always watching while I’m writing my diary. Hella always says: “There really ought not to be any elder sisters;” she’s jolly well right. It’s a pity we can’t alter things. Mother says we are really too big to keep St. Nicholas, but I don’t see why one should ever be too big for that. Last year Inspee got something from St. Nicholas when she was 13 and I’m not 12 yet. All we get are chocolates and sweets and dates and that sort of thing, not proper presents. The girls want to give the Frau Doktor a great Krampus * to leave it on her desk. I think that’s silly. It’s not a proper present for a teacher one is really fond of, one doesn’t want to waste sweets on a teacher one doesn’t like, and to give an empty Krampus would be rude. Mother is really right and a Krampus is only suitable for children.

* Krampus=Ruprechtsknecht, i.e. a little Demon, who serves St. Nicholas, and is a bogey man to carry off naughty children An image of this Demon filled with sweets, is given as a present on the feast of St. Nicholas which inaugurates the Christmas season.--Translators’ Note.

December 1st. We are giving everyone of the staff a Krampus, each of us is to subscribe a crown, I hope Father will give me the crown extra. Perhaps he’ll give us more pocket money now, at least another crown, that would be splendid. We are going to give big Krampuses to the ones we like best, and: small ones to those we are not so fond of. We’re afraid to give one to Professor J. But if he doesn’t get one perhaps he’ll be offended.

December 2nd. To-day we went to buy Krampuses for the staff. The one for Frau Doktor M. is the finest. When you open it the first thing you see is little books with Schiller, Goethe, and Fairy Tales written on the backs, and then underneath these are the sweets. That’s exactly suited for her, for the Frau Doktor teaches German and in the Fourth in German they are reading these poets. Last month in the Fourth they had a Schiller festival and Frau Doktor made a splendid speech and some of the girls gave recitations. Besides Hella has shown me an awful poem by Schiller. There you can read: if only I could catch her in the bath, she would cry for mercy, for I would soon show the girl that I am a man. And then in another place: “To my mate in God’s likeness I can show _that_ which is the source of life.” But you can only find that in the _large_ editions of Schiller. I believe we’ve got some books of that sort in our bookcase, for when Inspee was rummaging there the other day Mother called from the next room: “Dora, what are you hunting for in the bookcase? I can tell you where it is.” And she said: Oh, it’s nothing, I was just looking for something, and shut the door quickly.

December 4th. The girls are so tiresome and have made such a muddle about the Krampuses for the staff. The money didn’t come out right and Keller said that Markus had taken some but Markus said not taken only kept. Of course Markus complained to Frau Doktor and her father went to the head and complained too. Frau Doktor said we know quite well that collections are not allowed and that we must not give any one a Krampus. Now Keller has the five Krampuses and we don’t know what to do about it. Mother says that sort of thing never turns out well but always ends in a quarrel.

December 5th. We are in such a funk: Hella and I and Edith Bergler have taken the Krampus which we bought for Frau Doktor M. and put it on her doorstep. Edith Bergler knew where she lived for she comes by there every day on her way to school. I wonder if she’ll guess where the Krampus comes from. I did not know that Edith Bergler was such a nice girl, I always thought she must be deceitful because she wears spectacles. But now I’m quite certain she is not deceitful, so one sees how easy it is to make a mistake. To-morrow’s our German lesson.

December 6th. Frau Doktor did not say anything at first. Then she gave out the subject for the essay: “Why once I could not go to sleep at night.” The girls were all taken aback, and then Frau Doktor said: Now girls that’s not so very difficult. One person cannot go to sleep because he’s just going to be ill, another because he is excited by joy or fear. Another has an uneasy conscience because he has done something which he has been forbidden to do; have not all of you experienced something of the kind? Then she looked frightfully hard at Edith Bergler and us two. She did not say anything more, so we don’t really know if she suspects. I couldn’t go to the ice carnival yesterday because I had such a bad cough, and Dora couldn’t go either because she had a headache; I don’t know whether it was a real headache or _that kind_ of headache; but I expect it was that kind.

December 17th. I haven’t managed to write anything for a whole week. The day before yesterday we had our Christmas reports: In history I had satisfactory, in Natural History good, in everything else very good. In diligence because of that stupid Vischer I had only a 2. Father was very angry; he says everyone can get a 1 in diligence. That’s true enough, but if one has satisfactory in anything then one can’t get a 1 for diligence. Inspee of course had only 1’s, except a 2 in English. But then she’s a frightful swot. Verbenowitsch is the best in our class, but we can’t any of us bear her, she’s so frantically conceited and Berta Franke says she’s _not to be trusted_. Berta walks to school with her cousin who’s in the seventh; she’s nearly 14, and is awfully pretty. She didn’t say what sort of a report she had, but I believe it was a very bad one.

December 18th. To-day at supper Dora fainted because she found a little chicken in her egg, not really a chicken yet, but one could make out the wings and the head, just a sketch of a chicken Father said. Still, I really can’t see what there was to faint about. Afterwards she said it had made her feel quite creepy. And she’ll never be able to eat another egg. At first Father was quite frightened and so was Mother, but then he laughed and said: What a fuss about nothing! She had to go and lie down at once and I stayed downstairs for a long time. When I came up to our room she was reading, that is I saw the light through the crack in the door; but when I opened the door it was all dark and when I asked: Ah so you’re still reading she didn’t answer and she pretended to wake up when I switched on the light and said: What’s the matter? I can’t stand such humbug so I said: Shut up, you know quite well it’s 9 o-clock. That’s all. On our way to school to-day we didn’t Speak a word to one another. Luckily after awhile we met a girl belonging to her class.

December 19th. I’m frightfully excited to know what I’m going to get for Christmas. What I’ve wished for is: A set of white furs, boa, muff, and velvet cap trimmed with the same fur, acme skates because mine are always working loose, _German_ sagas, not Greek; no thank you, hair ribbons, openwork stockings, and if possible a gold pin like the one Hella got for a birthday present. But Father says that our Christ Child would find that rather too expensive. Inspee wants a corset. But I don’t think she’ll get one because it’s unhealthy. The tablecloth for Father is finished and is being trimmed, but Mother’s book cover is not quite ready yet. I’m giving Dora a little manicure case. Oh, and I’d nearly forgotten what I want more than anything else, a lock-up box in which to keep my diary. Dora wants some openwork stockings too and three books. A frightful thing happened to me the other day. I left one of the pages of my diary lying about or lost one somehow or other. When I came home Inspee said: “you’ve lost _this_, haven’t you? School notes I suppose?” I didn’t notice what it was for a moment, but then I saw by the look of it and said: Yes, those are school notes. Hm-m-m, said Inspee, not exactly that are they? You can thank your stars that I’ve not shown them to Mother. Besides people who can’t spell yet really ought not to keep diaries. It’s not suitable for children. I was in a wax. In the closet I took a squint to see what mistakes I had made. There was only _wenn_ with one _n_ instead of double _n_ and _dass_ with short _ss’s_, that’s all. I was jolly glad that there was nothing about _her_ on the page. She’d underlined the _n_ and the short _ss’s_ with red, just as if she was a schoolmistress, infernal cheek! The best would be to have a book with a lock to it, which one could alway keep locked, then no one could read any of it and underline one’s mistakes in red. I often write so fast that it’s easy to make a slip now and again. As if she never made a mistake. The whole thing made me furious. But I can’t say anything about it because of Mother, at least on the way to school; but no, if I say nothing at all then she always gets more waxy than ever. If I were to say much about it Mother might remember those 5 pages I lost in the country and I’d rather not thank you.

December 22nd. Aunt Dora came to-day. She’s going to stay with us for a time till Mother is quite well again. I didn’t remember her at all, for I was only four or five when she went away from Vienna. You dear little black beetle she said to me and gave me a kiss. I didn’t like the _black_ much, but Hella says that suits me, that it’s _piquant_. _Piquant_ is what the officers always say of her cousin in Krems, Father says she is a beauty, and she’s dark like me. But I’d rather be fair, fair with brown eyes or better still with violet eyes. Shall I grow up a beauty? Oh I do hope I shall!

December 23rd. I am frightfully excited about to-morrow. I wonder what I shall get? Now I must go and decorate the Christmas tree. Inspee said: Hullo, is _Gretl_ going to help decorate this year? She’s never done it before! I should like to know why not. But Aunt Dora took my side. “Of course she’ll help decorate too; but please don’t stuff yourselves with sweets.” “If Dora doesn’t eat anything I shan’t either,” said I promptly.

Evening. Yesterday was our last day at school. The holidays are from the 23rd to January 2nd. It’s glorious. I shall be able to go skating every day. Of course I had no time to-day and shan’t have to--morrow. I wonder whether I should send the Gold Fairy a Christmas card. I wish she had a prettier name. Anastasia Klastoschek; it is so ugly. All Czech names are so ugly. Father knows a Count Wilczek, but a still worse name is Schafgotsch. Nothing would induce me to marry anyone called Schafgotsch or Wilczek even if he were a count and a millionaire. Yesterday we paid our respects to the staff, Verbenowitsch and I went to Frau Doktor because she is fondest of us, or is _said_ to be. Nobody wanted to go to Professor Rigl, Igel, we always say Nikel, for when he has respects paid to him he always says: “Aw ri’.” But it would have been rude to leave him out and so the monitors had to go. When Christmas was drawing near Frau Doktor told us that we were none of us to give presents to the staff. “I beg you, girls, to bear in mind what I am saying, for if you do not there will only be trouble. You remember what happened on St. Nicholas’ day. And you must not send anything to the homes of the staff, nor must the Christ Child leave anything on any one’s doorstep.” As she said this she looked hard at me and Edith Bergler, so she knows who left the Krampus. I’m so tired I can’t keep my eyes open. Hurrah, to-morrow is Christmas Eve!!!

December 24th. Christmas Eve afternoon is horrid. One does not know what to be at. I’m not allowed to go skating so the best thing is to write. Oswald came home yesterday. Everyone says he’s looking splendid; I think he’s awfully pale and he snorted when everyone said he had such a fine colour; of course, how can he look well when he has such a _heartache_. I wish I could tell him that I understand what he feels, but he’s too proud to accept sympathy from me. He has wished for an army revolver for Christmas, but I don’t think he’ll get one for boys at the middle school are not allowed to have any firearms. Not long ago at a Gymnasium in Galicia one of the boys shot a master out of revenge; they said it was because the boy was getting on badly with his work, but really it was about a girl, although the master was 36 years old. This morg. I was in town with Oswald shopping; we met the Warths, Elli and . . . Robert. Oswald said that Elli was quite nice-looking but that Robert was an ugly beast. Besides, he can’t stand him he said, because he glared at me so. If only he knew what happened in the summer! I was awfully condescending to Robert and that made him furious. If one could only save you girls from all the troubles which the world calls “Love,” said Oswald on the way home. I was just going to say “I know that you’re unhappy in love and I can feel for you,” when Inspee came round the corner of the Bognergasse with her chum and 2 officers were following them, so none of them saw us. “Great Scott, Frieda’s full-fledged now,” said Oswald, “she’s a little tart.” I can’t stand that sort of vulgarity so I did not say another word all the way home. He noticed and said to Mother: “Gretl’s mouth has been frozen up from envy.” That’s all. But it was really disgusting of him and now I know what line to take.

Just a moment for a word or two. The whole Christmas Eve has gone to pot. A commissionaire came with a bouquet for Dora and Father is fuming. I wish I knew who sent it. I wonder if it was one of those 2 officers? Of course Inspee says she has not the ghost of an idea. What surprises me is that Oswald has not given her away. All he said was: I say, what a lark! But Father was down on him like anything, “You hold your jaw and think of your own beastly conduct.” I didn’t envy him; I don’t think much of Dora’s looks myself, but apparently she pleases _someone_. In the bouquet there was a poem and Dora got hold of it quickly before Father had seen it. It was awfully pretty, and it was signed: One for whom you have made Christmas beautiful! The heading is: “The Magic Season.” I think Dora’s splendid not to give herself away; even to me she declares she does not know who sent it; but of course that may be all humbug. I think it really comes from young Perathoner, with whom she’s always skating.

December 28th. I’ve had absolutely no time to write. I got everything I wanted. Aunt Dora gave both of us an opera glass in mother-of-pearl in a plush case. We are going to all the school performances, Father’s arranged it; he has subscribed to _all_ the performances during the school year 19-- to 19--. I am so delighted for Frau Doktor M. will come too. I do hope I shall sit next to her.

December 31st. To-day I wanted to read through all I have written, but I could not manage it but in the new year I really must write every day.

January 1st, 19--. I must write a few sentences at least. For the afternoon we had been invited to the Rydberg’s the Warths were there and Edle von Wernhoff!! I was just the same as usual with Lisel but I would not say a word to R. They left before us, and then Heddy asked me what was wrong between me and R. He had said of me: Any one can have the _black goose for me_. Then he said that any one could take me in. I was so stupid that I would believe anything. I can’t think what he meant, for he never took me in about anything. Anyhow I would not let _him_ spoil new year’s day for me. But Hella is quite right for if the first person one meets on January 1st is a common person that’s a bad beginning. The first thing this morning when I went out I met our old postman who’s always so grumpy if he’s kept waiting at the door. I looked the other way directly and across the street a fine young gentleman was passing, but it was no good for the common postman had really been the first.

January 12th. I am so angry. _We_ mayn’t go skating any more because Inspee has begun to complain again of her silly old ears and Mother imagines that she got her earache last year skating. It’s all right to keep _her_ at home; but why shouldn’t _I_ go? How can _I_ help it when _she_ gets a chill so easily? In most things Father is justice itself, but I really can’t understand him this time. It’s simply absurd, only it’s too miserable to call it absurd. I’m in a perfect fury. Still, I don’t say anything.