:51:00
EVERYTHlNG WENT WELL
:51:02
UNTlL CHRlSTMAS,
:51:04
BUT CHRlSTMAS EVE
:51:06
WAS A SAD OCCASlON,
:51:07
AND AS NEW YEAR'S GREW NEAR,
:51:10
EFFl BEGAN TO FEEL VERY MELANCHOLlC.
:51:15
One day, coming from her
painting Iessons near the zoo...
:51:19
she got on a horse-drawn tram
passing aIong Kurfuerstenstrasse.
:51:25
It was very hot...
:51:26
and the curtains, fIapping to and fro
and biIIowing in the breeze...
:51:31
refreshed her.
:51:32
She Ieaned back in the corner...
:51:36
and Iooked at the sofas enameIIed
on a pane of gIass...
:51:39
bIue, with bobs and tasseIs.
:51:42
The tram was moving sIowIy...
:51:44
when three schooIgirIs with satcheIs
and IittIe pointed hats jumped on.
:51:49
Two of them were fair-haired and IiveIy.
The third was dark and serious.
:51:53
It was Annie.
:51:54
Effi started. The thought of
a meeting with her chiId...
:51:58
which she had Iong desired...
:52:00
now fiIIed her with mortaI fear.
What shouId she do?
:52:04
She opened the door to the front pIatform,
where onIy the driver stood...
:52:09
and asked him to Iet her get off at the front.
:52:13
''Not aIIowed, miss, '' the driver said...
:52:15
but she gave him a coin
and such a pIeading Iook...
:52:19
that the good-hearted man
reIented and muttered.:
:52:23
''ShouIdn't reaIIy,
but aII right, just this once.''
:52:26
And he removed the grating,
and Effi jumped down.
:52:32
She's half one and half the other.
:52:35
ln her prettiness, her specialness...
:52:39
she takes after her mother...
:52:41
but she has her seriousness...
:52:44
from her father.
:52:45
All things considered,
she's probably more like the master.
:52:51
Thank goodness!
:52:54
Well, ma'am, that's the question.
:52:58
Many would be more
in favour of the mother.