Not once during the night do I have rest here. Often a hand or a
word tears me from sleep. Because everything is dark, I often do not
know in the morning who was with me.
I must get up early, to clean the clothes and polish the boots. My
legs are heavy, and my eyes are still very weary. But the young
masters are hard when I neglect something, and cruel. But at night
they are friendly and caress me as though I were a grand lady.
Only old Mr. Konrad Krause is good during the day as well. When he
wants something, he speaks without humiliating me; and something in
the sound of his voice makes me happy. He does not permit anything
nasty to be said about me in his presence. I like him very much.
Recently I had a laugh over him. I was awoken by noise coming from
the corridor outside my room. It was a conversation. I detected two
voices: I missed much of what one said, for it whispered; what I
caught was young and rough. One I caught without trying; clear as if
it were a body. I felt that it was too fat and had wrinkles.