At half-past five, when Mrs. Gerhardt was tearfully going about the duty of getting supper, Jennie returned.
Her mother started when she heard the door open, for now she knew the storm would burst afresh.
Her father met her on the threshold.
"Get out of my sight!" he said savagely.
"You shall not stay another hour in my house.
I don't want to see you any more.
Get out!"
Jennie stood before him, pale, trembling a little, and silent.
The children she had brought home with her crowded about in frightened amazement.
Veronica and Martha, who loved her dearly, began to cry.
"What's the matter?" George asked, his mouth open in wonder.
"She shall get out," reiterated Gerhardt.
"I don't want her under my roof.
If she wants to be a street-walker, let her be one, but she shall not stay here.
Pack your things," he added, staring at her.
Jennie had no word to say, but the children cried loudly.
"Be still," said Gerhardt.
"Go into the kitchen."
He drove them all out and followed stubbornly himself.
Jennie went quietly to her room.
She gathered up her few little belongings and began, with tears, to put them into a valise her mother brought her.
The little girlish trinkets that she had accumulated from time to time she did not take.
She saw them, but thought of her younger sisters, and let them stay.
Martha and Veronica would have assisted her, but their father forbade them to go.
At six o'clock Bass came in, and seeing the nervous assembly in the kitchen, inquired what the trouble was.
Gerhardt looked at him grimly, but did not answer.
"What's the trouble?" insisted Bass.
"What are you all sitting around for?"
"He is driving Jennie away," whispered Mrs. Gerhardt tearfully.
"What for?" asked Bass, opening his eyes in astonishment.
"I shall tell you what for," broke in Gerhardt, still speaking in German.
"Because she's a street-walker, that's what for.
She goes and gets herself ruined by a man thirty years older than she is, a man old enough to be her father.
Let her get out of this.
She shall not stay here another minute."
Bass looked about him, and the children opened their eyes.
All felt clearly that something terrible had happened, even the little ones.
None but Bass understood.
"What do you want to send her out to-night for?" he inquired.
"This is no time to send a girl out on the streets.
Can't she stay here until morning?"
"No," said Gerhardt.
"He oughtn't to do that," put in the mother.
"She goes now," said Gerhardt. "Let that be an end of it."
"Where is she going to go?" insisted Bass.
"I don't know," Mrs. Gerhardt interpolated weakly.
Bass looked around, but did nothing until Mrs. Gerhardt motioned him toward the front door when her husband was not looking.
"Go in! Go in!" was the import of her gesture.
Bass went in, and then Mrs. Gerhardt dared to leave her work and follow.
The children stayed awhile, but, one by one, even they slipped away, leaving Gerhardt alone.