“Oh, Martha, I do not know what to do,” he said to her in a perturbed manner. “You simply have to help me. You knew my wife and you know my child and love her; and besides, she is attached to you. Tell me what has come over her. Since when has she been so frightfully stubborn? Was the child always that way, or has she only grown more stubborn lately? Have you noticed how she has changed in my absence?”
“There is nothing so very much the matter with Cornelli, Mr. Hellmut. Cornelli is not an ill-natured child, I am sure of that. But won’t you take a seat, Director?” Martha interrupted her speech, placing a chair now here and now there for her visitor, who was running excitedly to and fro. But he refused, for he was too restless to settle down.
“It was really a very abrupt and sudden change for the child, and it was hard for her to have everything so different all at once,” Martha said. “Even an older child might have become shy under those conditions, and Cornelli is still very young. It is hard for a small plant to have too much done for it all at once and too suddenly; it has to have time to develop, and the better the plant the more carefully it should be tended.”
“I hope you are not trying to insinuate that it was not good for Cornelli to at last get into the right hands,” said Mr. Hellmut, standing still in the middle of the room. “I have to reckon it as a great blessing that she was thrown with ladies of culture and refinement, who could awaken in her everything that was good, noble and fine, and could teach her many things. My Cornelia would have done this herself, above all others, for she was in all those things the most striking example. The child has not a trace of her, not even in her looks; everything is lost that used to remind me of her.”
“Oh, Mr. Hellmut, if I might be allowed to say anything else, I would only add one word,” Martha replied calmly. “I have always found that a little love goes further than many good rules. I know that a young child can be frightened by harsh words more than grown-up people realize. Afterwards they cannot understand the cause of the shy behavior which is the result. Cornelli has not lost her mother’s eyes, only one cannot see them under her hanging fringes.”
“Yes, that’s it, Martha, this horrible disfigurement, this obstinacy which holds fast to it all. The shy, spiritless manner, the absolutely changed ways of the child hurt and worry me so. It takes away all my joy and all my courage and paralyzes all hope for the future. It has absolutely spoiled my life.”
The visitor had gotten more and more stirred up as he went on. “So I shall help her in the only way I know of: I shall send her to a boarding school. I just told her about it and she acted as if she were absolutely desperate. I simply cannot look upon her terrible despair. I actually feel as if my Cornelia could have no peace in Heaven if she heard her child’s supplications.”
“Oh, Director, if you could only keep Cornelli at home for a little while, so that she could calm down,” Martha said humbly. “Cornelli has had to go through so many new experiences lately that it would be good for her to stay quietly at home for a while. In the meantime you could get her more accustomed to the idea of leaving home, so that it would not scare her so dreadfully. I promise to do all I can too, Mr. Hellmut. I will tell her pleasant things about the school and the nice children that she might meet there.”
“That is a fine idea, Martha,” Mr. Hellmut said, a little more calmly. “Please do all you possibly can to make the idea pleasant and desirable to the child. Do not forget, Martha, that you are my only help.”
After these words Mr. Hellmut went away.
“Oh, the good kind Director!” said Martha, following him with her eyes. “What help can old, stupid Martha be to him, I wonder. But I shall certainly do whatever I can.”
Arrived at home, Mr. Hellmut went straight up to Cornelli’s room. She was still kneeling at her bed in the same attitude, and still crying bitterly.
“Get up, Cornelli, and stop crying,” he said. “I meant well with you, but you did not understand me. You shall stay at home for the present; later on you may feel differently about it. You can go to Martha tomorrow. Listen well to her words, for she is your best friend.”
Cornelli could not have heard a more consoling word. It sounded so hopeful after all the horrible news about going away.
“Can’t I go to Martha right away?” she said longingly.
“Yes, you can, Cornelli,” replied her father, “but you have not eaten anything yet.”
“That does not matter,” said Cornelli, already running down the stairs.
At last Cornelli was running again. She flew quickly up the little stairs and into Martha’s room.
“I have to go away, Martha, but not right away. Papa says that I have to go,” the child called out on entering. “Papa told me to come to you; I think it was because I cried all the time and he wanted me to stop. But I won’t stop, unless you promise to help me to stay at home. I do not want to go to all the strange children. I couldn’t stand it; oh, no, I couldn’t! Oh, it would be dreadful. Please help me, Martha, help me!” The terrible fear in Cornelli’s voice and the sight of her swollen eyes went straight
