bring the matter before the staff meeting. But after all, it's simply
_impossible_ to give 6 girls out of 25 a bad conduct mark.

December 4th. The head mistress came to inspect the German lesson
to-day. Afterwards she said that she expected us to make all the
knowledge which Frau Doktor M. had instilled into us for 3 years, the
firm foundation of our further development in the higher classes. In the
English lesson she referred to the more restricted use of punctuation
marks in English; and afterwards we 6 _sinners_ were summoned to the
office. The whole school knew about the trouble and was astonished at
our courage, especially the lower classes; the Fifth and the Sixth were
rather annoyed that we in the Fourth had dared to do it. The head
gave us a terrible scolding, saying that it was an unexampled piece
of impudence, and that we were not doing credit to Frau Doktor M. Then
Hella said very modestly: "Frau Direktorin, will you please allow me to
say a word in our defence?" Then she explained that Prof. Fritsch never
missed a chance of casting a slur upon Frau Doktor M., not in plain
words of course, but so that we could not fail to understand it, and
that was why we acted as we did. The head answered we must certainly be
mistaken, that no member of the staff could ever speak against another
in such a way we had simply misunderstood Prof Fritsch! But we know
perfectly well how often the Nutling used to say in the Maths lesson:
"Don't you know _that_? Surely you _must_ have been taught that." The
emphasis does it!!!!! The staff meeting is to-morrow, and we were told
to do our best to make amends before the meeting. The 2 Ehrenfelds
suggested that we should write the compositions over again, of course
with all the commas, and should place them on his desk to-morrow morning
before the German lesson; but all the rest of us were against this, for
we saw plainly that the head had changed colour when Hella said what
she did. We shall make the corrections and then we shall all begin new
copybooks.

December 8th. It is 3 days now since the staff meeting, but not a word
has been said yet about our affair, and in the German lesson yesterday
the Prof. gave out the subject for the third piece of home work without
saying anything in particular. I think he is afraid to. Hella has saved
us all, for everyone else would have been afraid to say what she did,
even I. Hella said: "My dear Rita, I'm not an officer's daughter for
nothing;" if _I_ have not courage, who should have? The girls stare at us
in the interval and whenever they meet us, though in the office the head
said to us: "I do hope that this business will not be spread all over
the school." But Brauner has a sister in the Second and Edith Bergler's
sister is in the Fifth and through them all the classes have heard about
it. I suppose nothing is going to be said to our parents or something
would have happened already. Besides, to be on the safe side, I have
already dropped a few hints at home. And since Dora, thank goodness, is
no longer at the school, it is impossible that there can be much fuss.
It was only at first that we were alarmed, but Hella was quite right
when she said: "I'm sure nothing will happen to us, for _we are in the
right_."

December 15th. A meeting with Viktor!!! Dora and I had gone to do our
Christmas shopping, and we came across him just as we had turned into
Tuchlauben. Dora got fiery red, and both their _voices trembled_. He
does look fine, with his black moustache and his flashing eyes! And the
green facings on his tunic suit him splendidly. He cleared his throat
quickly to cover his embarrassment, and walked with us as far as the
Upper Market-place; he has another six-months furlough because of throat
trouble; so Dora can be quite easy in her mind in case she fancied that
-- -- -- -- --. When he said goodbye he kissed our hands, _mine as well
as Dora's_, and smiled so sweetly, sadly and sweetly at the same time.
Several times I wanted to turn the conversation upon him. But when Dora
does not want a thing, you can do what you like and she won't budge;
she's as obstinate as a mule! She's always been like that since she was
quite a little girl, when she used to say: Dor not! That meant: Dora
won't; little wretch! such a wilful little beast!

December 17th. Yesterday we had our first tobogganing party on the
Anninger; it was glorious, we kept on tumbling into the snow; the snow
lay fairly thick, especially up there, where hardly anyone comes. As we
were going home such a ridiculous thing happened to Hella; she caught
her foot on a snag and tore off the whole sole of a brand new shoe. She
had to tie it on with a string, and even then she limped so badly
that every one believed she had sprained her ankle tobogganing.
Her grandmother was frightfully angry and said: "That comes of such
_unladylike_ amusements!" Aunt Dora was very much upset, for she had
been with us, but Father said: Hella's grandmother is quite an old lady,
and in her day people had very different views in this respect. I should
say so, _in this respect_, Hella finds it out a dozen times a day, all
the things she must not say and must not do, and all the things which
are unsuitable for young girls! Her grandmother would like to keep her
under a glass shade; but not a transparent one, for she must not be able
to see out, and _no one_ must be able to see _in_. (The last is the main
point.)

December 20th. To-day was the last German lesson before Christmas,
and not a word more has been said about our affair. Hella has proved
splendidly right. Even Verbenowitsch, who curries favour with every
member of the staff, has congratulated her, and so has Hammer, who is
a newcomer and did not know Frau Doktor M. By the way, at 1 o'clock the
other day we met Franke; she goes now to a school of dramatic art, and
says that the whole tone of the place is utterly different, she is so
glad to have done with the High School. She had heard of the affair
with Prof. F. and she congratulated us upon our _strength of character_,
especially Hella of course. She says that the matter is common talk in
all the High Schools of Vienna, at least she heard of it from a girl at
the High School for the Daughters of Civil Servants, a girl whose sister
is at the School of Dramatic Art. She is very happy there, but she is
annoyed that such an institution should still be called a school; it's
not a _school_ in the least; we would be astonished to see how free they