Petra stared at him; she had known very well that she had been doing wrong; but she was accustomed to having this indicated to her in the following manner: “You imp of darkness! You black woolly Satan!” Now she felt mortified.
“What a shame that you do not go to school and learn God’s commandments about good and evil!”
She stood stroking her frock, and replied that her mother did not wish to have her go to school.
“You cannot even read, I suppose.”
Yes, of course she could read.
He produced a small book and handed it to her. She glanced into it, then turned it round, and looked at the cover.
“I cannot read such fine print,” said she.
But he insisted on her trying, and all at once she became surprisingly stupid; her eyes and her lips drooped, all her limbs became relaxed.
“G-o-d, God, t-h—God the L-o-r—God, the Lord, s-a—God, the Lord, said to M-M-”—
“Bless me! you cannot read yet! And you are a child of from ten to twelve years old. Would you not like to learn to read?”
She managed tp drag out that she would very much like to do so.
