Among Thilde's particular talents since she was a child was the ability to adapt to any circumstance, to find her way in every given situation. Had Hugo lived and remained in office (which was not to be assumed but was also not impossible), and had he completed his term in office in Woldenstein (again, something rather difficult to imagine), and had he then been elected to the position of head mayor of a provincial capital (owing to his proven competence), there is no doubt that his wife would have performed her official duties with satisfactory skill. In any case, she would have exhibited natural ease and grace, whether faced with the visit of a state president or even an Imperial parade. Now, as she found herself, after a brief success, set back to the level at which she began, Thilde once again found her bearings in the situation. She took up her old life without any prolonged reflection and without complaint. The situation was thus and so; therefore, one must do this and that. Just no useless rumination. There was not a moment's thought about reversing her situation, only about making the best of the situation as it was, and this she did with great deliberation and, in her own way, with consideration for others, yet decisively. As far as possible, Thilde was inexhaustible in small good deeds and attentions to the old woman. She obliged her to the extent that she once again, as before, shared the small alcove of a bedroom with her mother. She was no longer willing to listen the entire day to conversations about going into an old people's home or such things, however, or to answer questions that nearly always concerned her private life in Woldenstein. This she was no longer willing to do, and she categorically declared that, during the day, she must be alone. “There must be an end to renting the room,” she declared. And with that, she established herself “over there.” As the old woman saw that Thilde wrote a great deal and buried herself in books and maps, and that when she came to the table—Runtschen had to go get the food—her cheeks were often flushed from studying, her mother could guess what Thilde was planning.