his foot in front of her and Loneli fell down her whole length; the milk
bottle flew far off and the milk poured down the road like a small white
stream. The boys nearly choked with laughter and all I was able to do
was to give Edwin a sound box on the ear," Bruno concluded, nearly
boiling with rage. "Such a coward! He ran right off after the Rector,
who had gone ahead and had not seen it. Loneli went silently away,
crying to herself. I'd like to have taken hold of both of them and given
them proper--"

"Yes, and Loneli is sure to be scolded by her grandmother for having
spilled the milk," Mea interrupted; "she always thinks that Loneli is
careless and that it is always her own fault when somebody harms her.
She is always punished for the slightest little fault."

"But she never defends herself," Kurt said, half in anger, partly with
pity. "If those two ever tried to harm Clevi, they would soon get their
faces scratched; Apollonie has brought Loneli up the wrong way."

"Should you like to see Loneli jump at a boy's face and scratch it,
Kurt?" asked the mother.

After meditating a while Kurt replied, "I guess I really shouldn't."

"Don't you all like Loneli because she never gets rough and always is
friendly, obliging and cheerful? Her grandmother really loves her very
much; but she is a very honest woman and worries about the child just
because she is anxious to bring her up well. I should be extremely sorry
if she scolded Loneli in the first excitement about the spilled milk.
The boys should have gotten the blame, and I am sure that Apollonie will
be sorry if she hears later on what really happened."