Esther was terribly indignant because Mina was leaving a good house for no reason whatsoever. Since Esther had been managing in the Director’s home she had always felt the honor of the house to be her own. Full of resentment, she was standing behind her master, who was shaking hands as a last farewell.
Miss Mina was looking towards the other side, where Cornelli stood: “Won’t you even give me your hand? This is not very friendly of you. That is just the way you are,” she said to the child in a low voice.
Now Esther broke forth: “Miss Mina,” she called out as loudly as she could, “please be so kind as to tell the ladies on the trip who left the dusty marks on the sofa by standing on it. They were not from a child’s shoe.”
Mina blushed a deep scarlet and Miss Dorner, full of astonishment, looked at her glowing face. She expected a fitting retort, but none came.
“Go ahead, Matthew,” Miss Dorner ordered excitedly. She did not desire a further explanation.
Mr. Hellmut had moved away.
Cornelli now took Esther’s broad hand inside both her own and pressed it hard. A ray of joy flitted over her features, the first after a long, long time. “Oh, I am so glad that you said that, Esther; I am more glad than you can think,” she said eagerly. “If you had not said that, they would have thought all their lives that I had done it and denied it. But how does Mina know who did it?”
“She knows, because she did it herself,” Esther replied.
“Oh, oh! So she did it with her own feet,” Cornelli exclaimed. “It is better that she has gone then. We’d rather be left alone here, wouldn’t we, Esther, just you and I?”
“Yes, indeed,” said the cook, full of satisfaction. “Just tell your father that I do not mind double work, but that I do mind deceitful ways.”
Cornelli had not spoken to her father since he had come back. She was shy before him, because she realized that the sight of her displeased him. She was, however, quite sure that she could never change and always had to be like that. She was also certain that he would only abhor her more if he ever found out what was hidden under her locks of hair. She therefore went slowly and hesitatingly towards his room in order to give him Esther’s message. In former times she had always run to him gaily, whenever she had something to tell him. Since then things had changed.
“It will never again be that way,” she said to herself. The thought seemed to weigh so heavily on her that she suddenly stood still. At that moment her father opened the door in front of which she stood. “Oh, here you are, Cornelli,” he said delightedly. “Did you want to pay me a little visit? We have really hardly seen each other. Come in here! I was just going to get you, for I want to speak with you.”
Cornelli entered, not saying a word and avoiding her father’s glance.
“Come, Cornelli,” he said, leading her through the room and sitting down beside her. “I have something to tell you that will make you very happy. You have changed so much during my absence and so little to your advantage that something has to be done for your education. It is high time. I shall take you to a boarding school in town, where you can be with many other children and young girls. You will have the chance to learn many things from them and to make friends with many. You will be sure to change there, then you can return to bring your father joy. I cannot enjoy you now, for I do not know what ails you. It may be better after you get some education. I expect to take you away next week.”
Cornelli’s face became snow white from sudden terror. First she uttered no sound, but soon she burst into violent tears.
“Oh, Papa,” she sobbed, “leave me at home! I’ll be good. Oh, don’t send me to town to so many children! Oh, I can’t, I can’t. Oh, Papa, don’t send me away!”
Mr. Hellmut could not bear to see Cornelli’s tears and still less to hear her supplications. “But for her own good it has to be,” he said to himself to strengthen his resolution. Cornelli’s lamentations were too much for him and he rushed away.
Several hours later, the time had come for supper and he returned from the iron foundry.
Esther came to meet him: “Oh, I am glad that you have come, Director,” she said excitedly. “When I went up to Cornelli just now she was crying. I wanted her to taste some of the little plum cakes she usually likes so much, but the poor child only shrieked: ‘Oh, leave me here, leave me here!’ Oh, Mr. Hellmut, what if Cornelli should get sick and die?”
“Nonsense, Esther,” he returned; “children do not die from obstinacy.”
The master of the house had tried to speak harshly, but he did not quite succeed. He ran straight upstairs to Cornelli’s room and saw the child on her knees in front of the bed. Her head was pressed into the pillows and she cried as if her heart was breaking.
“Oh, don’t send me away, don’t send me away!” she cried as soon as he entered.
He saw that Cornelli was trembling all over from fear and excitement. “I cannot endure this,” he said to himself, and seizing his hat ran out of the house.
Martha was sitting in her peaceful little chamber, busy with her mending and thinking about Cornelli. She was wondering what would happen now that she was again left alone with her father.
