Cornelli Part 17

Martha had to wipe her eyes, she was so stirred.

"You shall know it, Martha. We'll go tomorrow, and on the same evening you shall hear an account of all that happened." With these words the Director seized her hand, and after shaking it heartily, departed.

"Get everything ready, Cornelli! We are going to town to-morrow," he called to his daughter, who sat on the garden bench quietly thinking.

"Esther shall call you early, at six o'clock."

"Indeed, I shall," came Esther's voice through some open window. She was a good sentinel, for she always seemed to know what was going on in the house and its immediate neighborhood.

Early next morning the two s.h.i.+ny brown horses were trotting down the valley. They had to go for four full hours, but that seemed a pure pleasure to them; the longer they ran, the more spirit they seemed to get, and Matthew had to keep them from galloping all the time.

In her corner Cornelli meditated as to how she could tell the maid at her arrival that she wanted to visit no one but Dino, and wanted to be taken straight to his room. She planned also to forbid Dino to call his sisters and his mother, for she wanted to see him alone. She would pay Dino a long visit and then steal quietly away without being noticed.

She was also reflecting about everything she wanted to tell her friend.

First of all, she had to tell him that the news had at last come out regarding who had been standing on the sofa. She had told him all about this deep grief she had borne for so long.

So they came to town much sooner than Cornelli had ever thought possible. The carriage was already halting before the hotel where her father usually stopped, and Cornelli jumped down.

"Shall I come back again in four hours, Papa?" she asked. "I can find my way alone, for Dino has described it to me."

"Stop, stop! That is not the way; I am coming, too," the father said.

Cornelli was quite sorry not to be able to start off alone, for that had been her plan. Now everything was quite different.

As Dino had written his exact address in his letter and the Director knew his way about town very well, they pa.s.sed quickly from street to street till they reached a narrow little lane. Here stood the house they had been seeking. When finally four high stairs had been climbed, the Director stood on the highest narrow step where the door took up half of the standing room.

"If the inhabitants correspond to their dwelling place, we shall probably not remain here very long," he said, looking up doubtfully at the inconvenient entrance.

"Dino does not correspond," said Cornelli quickly. She had not quite understood her father's words, but felt them to be an attack on her friend.

"Climb up there, Cornelli, and pull the bell-rope!" he commanded. "When the door is open I'll probably find room to stand there, too."

Cornelli obeyed. A slender girl a good deal taller than Cornelli opened the door and looked with surprise at the new arrivals through a pair of dark and serious eyes. Cornelli retreated suddenly.

"Well, what I see is not very dreadful," the Director said, stepping forward.

"How do you do, child. Is your mother at home, and can I speak to her a moment?"

The girl who had opened the door was Nika. With great politeness she led the gentleman to a room and informed him that she would go at once to fetch her mother, who was with her sick brother.

Upon her polite invitation the Director followed her, and settled down in an arm-chair. He looked about him with astonishment at the small but scrupulously neat room, which was decorated with several charming pictures.

When Nika neared the door, Cornelli said to her in a low voice: "I want to visit Dino."

"Come, I'll show you the way," came a small voice from behind the door.

It was Mux, who had quickly hidden there to peep with curious eyes at the new arrivals. He came out and seizing Cornelli's hand, pulled her away with him. The mother had heard the stranger's voice and at this moment entered from an adjoining chamber.

"She does not correspond, either, as Cornelli puts it," the Director said to himself with a smile. He rose and introduced himself. "Following your son's summons, Mrs. Halm, I have brought you my daughter," he said. "She can stay a few hours with her sick friend, if that suits you, and then she can join me again at my hotel."

"I am so much obliged to you for the great favor of bringing her. My son has looked forward so much to this visit. We all know and love Cornelli already from what he has told us about her. She has been so kind to him and has entertained him so well when he was alone in Iller-Stream that she has earned his and my sincere thanks. Could I not beg of you to leave Cornelli here for a few days, or at least for all of to-day?"

"You are very kind, Mrs. Halm," he replied, quite astonished to hear that his shy, unfriendly child should have furnished the boy any entertainment. "Those are just polite words," he said to himself, but aloud he added: "I am afraid that it won't be possible, for my child would not stay. She is very shy and has all kinds of peculiar habits, as you probably have noticed from her looks. Your daughter certainly looks different."

"I shall not keep Cornelli here against her will, of course, but may I hope to have your permission if the child should want to stay?"

The rector's widow had such a pleasing manner that it was hard to refuse her anything. The Director therefore gladly a.s.sented, for it was his wish as well as hers.

"Certainly, Mrs. Halm, I shall joyfully give it," he a.s.sured her. "What could please me more than to have my daughter in surroundings like these? But I am perfectly certain that Cornelli will desire to go back with me. Just the same, I want to thank you sincerely for your great kindness; it will help her to spend even a single day in your charming household."

The Director said farewell and departed. At the entrance door down stairs a school girl, carrying her schoolbag and books, ran towards him so violently that a collision could not be avoided, so the Director opened his arms wide and caught Agnes in them. Agnes always approached everything like a wind storm. She could not behave otherwise. The Director laughed heartily and so did Agnes.

"I am sure you belong to Mrs. Halm, too," he said, looking with pleasure at the lively face with the wide-open, bright eyes. How nice and trim everything was about her!

"Yes, indeed," she replied quickly, and ran away.

"What a happy mother, what a happy woman!" said the Director to himself.

"And to compare my child to such children. I cannot bear it! Such children, and mine beside them!"

Dino had told his mother about his experiences in Iller-Stream and especially of his acquaintance with Cornelli. He had also related to her the child's strange trouble, but she had had to give her promise to keep it to herself. It did not seem wrong to Dino to tell his mother, because she always knew everything he knew. When the invitation had been sent to Cornelli, Mrs. Halm had seriously told the children not to make any remarks about Cornelli's hair in case she should come. She had told them not to show any surprise if Cornelli wore her hair in a rather strange fas.h.i.+on and not to notice it further; that was the way the mother wished it to be.

Little Mux was very much pleased at having a new companion. He looked upon her as an old acquaintance, for Dino had talked so much about her. First he took her to see the kitchen.

"But I am sure Dino does not sleep here," said Cornelli, surprised.

"No, this is the kitchen; there are no beds here," Mux a.s.serted. "But I shall show you first why Agnes cried one whole hour to-day, or perhaps it was two." And Mux led his new friend to a whole pile of apple peels which lay in a bucket. "Isn't Agnes stupid to cry when we get good apple tarts afterwards."

"But why did she cry?" asked Cornelli, full of sympathy. She knew exactly what it was like when one simply had to cry.

"We don't know," retorted Mux.

"But why does the maid not peel the apples?" asked Cornelli again.

"There is no maid, except block-headed Trina," Mux informed her.

"Who is block-headed Trina?" Cornelli wanted to know.

"She has to help; she is small and fat," Mux described her. "Mama has to show her how to cook, and she has to fetch what we need and always brings the wrong thing. So Dino says: 'We really must send block-headed Trina away.' And then Mama says: 'Trina has to live, too.' And then she is not sent away after all."

Cornelli had great sympathy for Agnes, who apparently had a secret trouble like her own; she did not have to be afraid of her, as she was of the proud sister who had received her.

"I am sure, Mux, that your other sister never cries. Are you not afraid of her?" asked Cornelli.

"Not the least little bit," replied the little boy. "She often makes a face, though, as if she wanted to cry and a thousand, thousand times she begins to when n.o.body knows why. I don't know why, either, for she doesn't tell me."

Immediately Cornelli's great shyness of Nika changed into great pity.

If Nika could not even talk about her sorrow, she might have the deepest sorrow of all.

"Now we shall go to Dino," she said, hurrying to the door which the little boy had pointed out to her.

"But wait! I shall first show you our big picture book. You'll love it," Mux a.s.sured her. "There is something in it that looks just like you; it is an owl that has rags over its eyes like you. But you must not talk about it, because Mama has forbidden it."