The rector’s widow had such a pleasing manner that it was hard to refuse her anything. The Director therefore gladly assented, for it was his wish as well as hers.
“Certainly, Mrs. Halm, I shall joyfully give it,” he assured 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 downstairs 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 fashion 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 asserted. “But I shall show you first why Agnes cried one whole hour today, 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 nobody 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 assured 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.”
“No, no, I don’t want to see the book. Please take me to Dino now,” Cornelli urged.
Mux pulled Cornelli away from the kitchen at last and, not far from there, opened a door.
“Are you coming at last, Cornelli?” Dino cried to her. He was sitting up in bed. He glanced happily at his approaching friend, and Cornelli, too, felt deep joy at seeing him again. The hours she had spent with him had been the only happy ones she had had all summer. Quickly sitting down by his bed, she began to relate to him everything that had happened in Iller-Stream since his departure. Dino asked many questions that Cornelli had to answer, and the time went by they knew not how.
Mux had disappeared. As long as he could not have his new friend’s whole attention, he preferred to find out what was being prepared for dinner in the kitchen.
Now the mother entered the room.
“I have hardly seen you yet, dear child,” she said, taking Cornelli’s hand, “but I thought I would leave you and Dino undisturbed for a little while. You must have many things to talk over about your experiences and friends in Iller-Stream. Dino has looked forward so much to your visit. Please come to lunch now. Dino has to sleep a little while afterwards, and then you can go back to him again, if you wish.”
A difficult moment had now come for Cornelli.
