Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (e books free to read TXT) 📕

‘I’m on the drive from morning to night, as you may suppose with such a family; but a great anxiety will be off my mind if I know the children are safe with you. My rooms are always open to you, and your own shall be as comfortable as I can make it. There are some pleasant people in the house if you feel sociable, and your evenings are always free. Come to me if anything goes wrong, and be as happy as you can. There’s the tea-bell; I must run and change my cap;’ and off she bustled, leaving me to settle myself in my new nest.

“As I went downstairs, soon after, I saw something I liked. The flights are very long in this tall house, and as I stood waiting at the head of the third one for a little servant girl to lumber up, I saw a gentleman come along behind her, take the heavy hod of coal out of her hand, carry it all the way up, put it down at a door near by, and walk away, saying, with a kind nod and a foreign accent⁠—

“ ‘It goes better so. The little back is too young to haf such heaviness.’

“Wasn’t it good of him? I like such things, for, as father says, trifles show character. When I mentioned it to Mrs. K., that evening, she laughed, and said⁠—

“ ‘That must have been Professor Bhaer; he’s always doing things of that sort.’

“Mrs. K. told me he was from Berlin; very learned and good, but poor as a church-mouse, and gives lessons to support himself and two little orphan nephews whom he is educating here, according to the wishes of his sister, who married an American. Not a very romantic story, but it interested me; and I was glad to hear that Mrs. K. lends him her parlor for some of his scholars. There is a glass door between it and the nursery, and I mean to peep at him, and then I’ll tell you how he looks. He’s almost forty, so it’s no harm, Marmee.

“After tea and a go-to-bed romp with the little girls, I attacked the big workbasket, and had a quiet evening chatting with my new friend. I shall keep a journal-letter, and send it once a week; so good night, and more tomorrow.”

“Tuesday Eve.

“Had a lively time in my seminary, this morning, for the children acted like Sancho; and at one time I really thought I should shake them all round. Some good angel inspired me to try gymnastics, and I kept it up till they were glad to sit down and keep still. After luncheon, the girl took them out for a walk, and I went to my needlework, like little Mabel, ‘with a willing mind.’ I was thanking my stars that I’d learned to make nice buttonholes, when the parlor-door opened and shut, and someone began to hum⁠—

‘Kennst du das land,’

like a big bumblebee. It was dreadfully improper, I know, but I couldn’t resist the temptation; and lifting one end of the curtain before the glass door, I peeped in. Professor Bhaer was there; and while he arranged his books, I took a good look at him. A regular German⁠—rather stout, with brown hair tumbled all over his head, a bushy beard, good nose, the kindest eyes I ever saw, and a splendid big voice that does one’s ears good, after our sharp or slipshod American gabble. His clothes were rusty, his hands were large, and he hadn’t a really handsome feature in his face, except his beautiful teeth; yet I liked him, for he had a fine head; his linen was very nice, and he looked like a gentleman, though two buttons were off his coat, and there was a patch on one shoe. He looked sober in spite of his humming, till he went to the window to turn the hyacinth bulbs toward the sun, and stroke the cat, who received him like an old friend. Then he smiled; and when a tap came at the door, called out in a loud, brisk tone⁠—

“ ‘Herein!’

“I was just going to run, when I caught sight of a morsel of a child carrying a big book, and stopped to see what was going on.

“ ‘Me wants my Bhaer,’ said the mite, slamming down her book, and running to meet him.

“ ‘Thou shalt haf thy Bhaer; come, then, and take a goot hug from him, my Tina,’ said the Professor, catching her up, with a laugh, and holding her so high over his head that she had to stoop her little face to kiss him.

“ ‘Now me mus tuddy my lessin,’ went on the funny little thing; so he put her up at the table, opened the great dictionary she had brought, and gave her a paper and pencil, and she scribbled away, turning a leaf now and then, and passing her little fat finger down the page, as if finding a word, so soberly that I nearly betrayed myself by a laugh, while Mr. Bhaer stood stroking her pretty hair, with a fatherly look, that made me think she must be his own, though she looked more French than German.

“Another knock and the appearance of two young ladies sent me back to my work, and there I virtuously remained through all the noise and gabbling that went on next door. One of the girls kept laughing affectedly, and saying ‘Now Professor,’ in a coquettish tone, and the other pronounced her German with an accent that must have made it hard for him to keep sober.

“Both seemed to try his patience sorely; for more than once I heard him say emphatically, ‘No, no, it is not so; you haf not attend to what I say;’ and once there was a loud rap, as if he struck the table with his book, followed by the despairing exclamation, ‘Prut! it all goes bad this day.’

“Poor man, I pitied him; and when the girls were gone, took