“And I’ll go, too,” Mux said with conviction. “Do you know, Cornelli,” he whispered into her ear, “I’ll stay with you all the time in your own house and Dino can go alone to old Martha.”
Agnes was simply enchanted with this new prospect. “Oh, how wonderful, how wonderful!” she exclaimed over and over again. “Now we can have singing lessons together and sing again at home. Oh, that is too wonderful!”
Nika also begged Cornelli to stay. “I hope you will tell your father that you intend to remain with us, Cornelli,” she said. “We are only just beginning to know you well.”
Cornelli’s eyes sparkled with pleasure, for now the whole family wanted to keep her with them. Suddenly a thought flashed through her. When her father had threatened to send her to town for a year, she had been terribly upset, and now the year spent in town with this family seemed like pure pleasure. How different everything had been from what she had thought and feared.
“I should love to stay here!” she exclaimed with deep emotion. “Can I write to Papa now?” That suited Mrs. Halm exactly. Sitting down beside Cornelli, she also wrote to Mr. Hellmut, and both letters were sent at once.
Two days later Mr. Hellmut was sitting at the breakfast table, looking at his mail. First of all he opened a fat envelope which had come to him from town. There were two letters in it which caused him great surprise. Mrs. Halm wrote that all the members of her family had joyfully received his proposal to leave Cornelli with them for a longer stay. She told him that they had all become so fond of Cornelli that she would have left behind a feeling of real loss.
Cornelli’s letter read as follows:
Dear Papa:
I should love to stay here, for the mother and all the children are very good to me, and I love them dearly. I should also like to learn lots and lots of things. Nika and Agnes know so much and are so clever, and I should be so glad to learn what they know. I shall be unspeakably happy if you will let me stay. Please give my love to Martha, Esther, and Matthew.
After reading the letters, the Director shook his head. “What on earth has happened?” he said to himself. “A few weeks have hardly passed since they told me that this child could not be set to rights, and I have myself seen how stubborn she was and how strangely she behaved. And what a change already! However, I must not take literally what has probably been written in a moment of excitement.”
Mr. Hellmut was very glad about Cornelli’s intention to remain in town, for thus his greatest care had been taken from him. A lovely woman, who with her children had made a most favorable impression on him, had promised to devote herself to his child, and he only wondered how long the present arrangement would last.
Mrs. Halm had soon arranged a regular course of studies for Cornelli. Agnes was very anxious for her to start music lessons right away, for she thought that that was the most important thing. Cornelli herself was eager to do this, for she wanted to learn everything that Nika and Agnes were learning. So she threw herself with fresh energy into all the fields of study that were opened to her.
Dino also was going to school, for he had entirely recovered. Every morning the four children started out gaily, talking eagerly while they walked down the street, until they finally separated for their various schools. If they met again on their way home, they were still more lively, for they would tell each other all their experiences. Cornelli surpassed them all in that respect. She had the talent of describing everything in such a funny and vivid fashion that she made them all laugh.
Mux alone was unhappy in these days, for he had lost his beloved companion. Full of anger, he would meet the four laughing school children when they were coming up the stairs and would say: “If I owned all the schools I would certainly burn them.”
“But I hope not all the teachers, too, Mux,” said Dino, “for then one would have to tell an even worse tale about you than you were telling about Agnes.”
The door between Cornelli’s and the sisters’ room was always open now, for they all had wished it. There was not a single evening on which they did not make use of the last moment for talking to each other about their mutual interests.
Cornelli was filled with admiration for Nika and for everything she did. She could not understand how Nika, who was so lovely and could do such wonderful things, could have a sorrow. She had never forgotten about it, because she had often noticed that the young girl suffered from some grief.
Even Agnes often stopped laughing quite suddenly. She would say: “Yes, Cornelli, it is easy for you to be jolly. It is easy for you.” So Cornelli knew that Agnes also carried a care about with her. When Agnes frowned and made dreadful wrinkles, Cornelli was quite sure that then her sorrow was hurting her. She would have loved to help her, but she had never asked her friends about it. She knew that she had been glad when nobody had asked her about her own trouble.
One day it happened that Agnes came home from her music lesson quite upset and terribly excited. “Oh, Mama,” she called from the door, “the teacher has given us the pieces today which we have to play for our examinations. He has given me the most difficult one, and while giving it to me he said: ‘I shall really make something fine out of you.’ ”
Agnes was throwing her music sheets away as if they were
