To win the favor of Heaven by good works and escape ennui, she helped the Grey Sisters, who lived in a little old convent next to Herr Van der Werff's house, nurse the sick whole they had lovingly received, and even went with Sister Gonzaga to the houses of the Catholic citizens, to collect alms for the little hospital.

But all this was done without joyous self-devotion, sometimes with extravagant zeal, sometimes lazily, and for days not at all.

She had become excessively irritable, but after being unbearably arrogant one day, would seem sorrowful and ill at ease the next, though without asking the offended person's pardon.
The young girl now stood behind the closed window, watching Georg, who with a bold spring dashed at the leathern figure and ran the sword in his right hand through the phantom's red heart.
The soldiers loudly expressed their admiration.

Henrica's eye, also sparkled approvingly, but suddenly they lost their light, and she stepped farther back into the room, for Maria came out of the workshops in the court-yard and, with her gaze fixed on the ground, walked past the fencers.
The young wife had grown paler, but her clear blue eyes had gained a more confident, resolute expression.

She had learned to go her own way, and sought and found arduous duties in the service of the city and the poor.