Cornelli Part 9

"Good evening," said Cornelli, after which she finished her soup with unusual haste.

"Where do you come from after all this time?" asked the cousin.

"From the garden," was the reply.

"That is quite possible, but where were you before that?"

"With Martha," Cornelli answered.

"If you could only learn to answer more pleasantly!" remarked Miss Dorner, "it would be to your own advantage, for you do not have many pleasing things about you; it would only make you more attractive, and you really should strive to become so.

"Next time you want to stay so long at this woman's house you have to ask my permission. I absolutely forbid you to stay away so long without asking me, do you hear? You deserve to be scolded for your long absence to-day, but I shall not say anything further. But why do you look so pitiful! What is the matter? Have you a toothache?"

"No," Cornelli quickly gave forth.

"Have you a headache?"

"No."

"What is the matter with you?"

"Nothing."

"You shall never again set up such a masquerade when there is nothing the matter with you, Cornelli," said the cousin scoldingly. "Why do you put this shawl around your head? Are you trying to look like an untidy gypsy? Don't ever come to table that way again! Betty, have you ever seen the like? Can you understand this behavior from a sensible child?"

The friend just shook her head.

"Perhaps Cornelli does it because she does not know what else to do.

She does not seem to desire a proper occupation," she replied.

When Cornelli came down to breakfast next day, she had taken off the shawl, but she still looked very odd.

"You look exactly like a savage from New Zealand," said the cousin.

"Do you think you are improving your appearance by plastering your hair all over your face?"

"No," said Cornelli fiercely.

"Neither do I," said the cousin. "I cannot make you out at all. What will you put on next, I wonder, when your hair is brushed away?"

"My fur cap," replied Cornell, according to the truth.

"I never heard such nonsense," exclaimed Miss Dorner. "I really think that the child is capable of doing that. She will probably pull it down over her head to her nose when the temperature is eighty. I have never seen such a child. What shall I do with her?"

Cornelli really looked as if she did not know how well brought up European girls usually wore their hair. From the middle of her head thick uneven strands of dark hair hung down over her forehead and deep into her eyes. The hair was not hanging loose, but was firmly glued to her skin. Her intention seemed to be to keep it there to prevent it from being blown away.

"You look positively repulsive and no person on earth will want to look at you if you go around like that. This may teach you to give up your terrible obstinacy! Nothing else can be done with you."

With these words the cousin rose and left the room. Miss Grideelen promptly followed.

That evening a letter was sent to Cornelli's father:

ILLER-STREAM, July 20th, 18--.

MY DEAR COUSIN:

Your affairs are going brilliantly, for your manager is splendid. I can also inform you that perfect order reigns in your house, your garden and the stable. Your place is perfectly magnificent; it abounds in fruit and vegetables and lovely flowers. I should never have imagined this possible years ago, when I wandered about here with my friend Cornelia.

I am coming now to the princ.i.p.al subject of this letter, which is less pleasant. I do not understand how your daughter has gotten her disposition. She does not either resemble you, with your fresh and open manner, or Cornelia, with her merry, pliant disposition, which won every one's heart. The child has a dull and sullen nature, a roughness of manner and an unheard-of stubbornness. I can do nothing for her, at least not by anything I say. But I have decided to leave physical or other punishment to you. I shall do all I can by good example and admonishment as long as I am here. My friend is supporting me faithfully. I do not dare raise in you the hope that the child will ever make you happy. A rebellious nature like hers is sure to get worse from year to year. I hope, however, that the success of all your ventures will give you the satisfaction that your home life cannot give you.

Your faithful cousin,

KITTY DORNER.

CHAPTER V

A NEWCOMER IN ILLER-STREAM

Old Matthew was raking the gravel paths in the garden when Cornelli stepped out of the house and slowly approached. She held a book in her hand and now sat down on the bench under the hazel bush. Laying the book on her lap, she watched Matthew while he cleaned up the paths.

Looking up he said: "Come with me, Cornelli, and let us go over to the stable together, for you have not been there for a long time. You should see how the little kid is growing."

Cornelli merely shook her head and gave no answer. Matthew looked over at the child a few more times, but said no more.

Esther, carrying a large basket, now arrived. As she was going to the vegetable garden she called over to the child: "You must have a specially nice book to be sitting there so quietly, Cornelli."

Cornelli shook her head.

"No?" laughed Esther. "All right, then, come with me and I'll show you how many yellow plums there are going to be this year; the whole tree is full and they are already beginning to ripen."

"I don't care," said Cornelli.

"No?" laughed Esther. "All right, then, plums," Esther exclaimed. "And our large juicy pears are beginning to get ripe, too. Don't you want to come and see how long it will be before they are ripe?"

"No," was the reply.

Esther now went her ways. A short time after that Matthew joined her.

"What is the matter with the child, Esther," he asked. "She is so changed! One can hardly recognize any more our gay and friendly Cornelli. And why does she have her hair hanging into her face that way? One absolutely does not know her any more."

"That is just what I say," Esther replied. "I really can't understand it. One hardly ever sees the child, and if one does meet her somewhere, she scarcely says a word. She never sings or laughs the way she used to, and she always wears such a terribly unhappy expression that it fairly makes one's heart ache. How happy the child used to be!

"They say that she needs to be educated, and it may be so; but since she is getting an education she is absolutely changed, and not for the better. However, things may go well again when her education is finished."

"She misses her mother," said Matthew. "It is awfully hard on a little one to grow up without a mother, for she needs her at every step. It is so easy when you have a mother to whom you can tell your joys and troubles."