means good luck; Father says it is a scandal the way
the dirt carts go on all through the day in Vienna,
and that one should see one even on New Year's day
at 2 in the afternoon. But still, if it means _good luck!_

January 2nd. The dust cart did bring good luck.
We had a real piece of _luck_ to-day! In the big interval
I noticed a little knot of girls in the hall, and suddenly
I felt as if my heart would stop beating. Frau
Doktor M., I should say Frau Professor Theyer, was
standing among them, she saw us directly and held out
her hand to us so we kissed it. She has come to visit
her parents and _her husband_ is with her; since she
did not know for certain whether she would be able
to come to the school she had not written either to
me or to Hella about it. She is so lovely and so
entrancingly loveable. When the bell rang for class and
Frau Doktor Dunker came in I saw that _she_ was still
standing outside. So I put my handkerchief up to my
face as if my nose were bleeding, and rushed out to
her. And because I slipped and nearly fell, she held
out her arms to me. Hardly had I reached her, when
Hella came out and said: "Of course I understood
directly; I said you were awfully bad, so I must go
and look after you." Then the Frau Professor laughed
like anything and said: "You are such wicked little
actresses; I must send you back immediately." But
of course she did not but was frightfully sweet. Then
we begged her to let us stay with her, but she said:
"No, no, I've been your teacher here, and I must not
encourage you in mischief. But here is a better idea.
Would you like to come and see me to-morrow?"
"Rather," we both exclaimed. She said she was staying
in a hotel, but we must not come alone to a hotel,
so she would see us at her parents, in Schwindgasse,
and we were to come there at 4 or half past. Then we
kissed both her hands and were so happy! To-morrow
at 4! Oh dear, a whole night more and nearly a whole
day to wait. "If your parents allow you," she said;
as if Father or even Hella's grandmother would not
allow _that!_ All Father said was: "All right Gretel,
but don't go quite off your head first or you won't be
able to find your way to Schwindgasse. Is Hella as
crazy as you are?" Of course, how can one be otherwise?

January 3rd. Still 2 hours, it's awful, Hella is coming
to fetch me at half past 3. In school to-day we kept
on looking at one another, and all the other girls
thought it must be something to do with a man. Goodness,
what do we care about a man now! We had a
splendid idea, that we had just time to make a memento
for _her_, since she does not leave until the evening
of the 5th. I am having traced on a piece of yellow
silk for a book marker an edelweiss and her monogram
E. T., the new one of course. Hella is painting a
paperknife in imitation of tarsia mosaic. I would
rather have done something of that sort too, but I have
no patience for such work, so I often spoil it before
I've finished. But one can't very well spoil a piece of
embroidery. But I shan't get the tracing on the silk
back from the shop until half past 3, so I shall have to
work all night and the whole day to-morrow.

Evening. Thank goodness and confound it, whichever
way you like to take it, the idiot at the shop had
forgotten about the bookmarker and I shan't get it
until to-morrow morning early. So I'm able to write
now: It was heavenly! We had to walk up and down
in front of her house for at least half an hour, until
at last it was 5 minutes past 4. She was so sweet
to us! She wanted to say Sie to us, but we _simply
would not have it_, and so she said Du as she used to.
We talked of all sorts of things, I don't know what,
only that I suddenly burst out crying, and then she
drew me to her b -- --, no, I can't write that about her;
she drew me to herself and than I felt _her heart beating!_
and went almost crazy. Hella says that I
put both my arms round her neck, but I'm sure that's
all imagination, for I should never have dared. She
has such fascinating hands, and the _wedding ring_
glistens so on her divine ring finger. Of course we
talked about the school, and then she suddenly said:
Tell me what really happened about those compositions,
when half the class deliberately refrained from
putting any punctuation marks. "Oh," we said, "that
is a frightful cram, it wasn't _half_ the class, but only 6
of us who have a special veneration for you." Then
we told her how it all came about. She laughed a
little, and said: "Well, girls, you did not do me
any particular _service_. It really was a great piece of
impertinence." But I said: "Prof. Fritsch's remarks
were 10 times more impertinent, for they related to
another member of the staff, and what was worse to
you." Then she said: "My darling girls, that often
happens in life, that the absent are given a bad reputa-
tion, whether justly or unjustly; one is liable to that
in every profession." Hella said that the head mistress
was not like that or there would have been a frightful
row, since the matter had become known in all the
High Schools of Vienna. Then Frau Doktor M. said: