“I have to tell you something else, Mr. Hellmut,” Mrs. Halm continued. “I am perfectly sure that a child’s first impressions are very important. It is natural that Cornelli missed her mother’s guidance, but she was not by any means a neglected child when she came to me. From what she and Dino have told me I am perfectly sure that Martha gave Cornelli the best one can possibly give a child on spiritual education. I esteem old Martha very highly, for she must love and understand children as few people do.”
“My wife used to say the same thing, and that is why I had such confidence in Martha. Unfortunately a time came later on when I feared that she was wrong, and I did not realize what she meant to Cornelli. You have reminded me of my great debt—”
At this moment such loud laughter and rejoicing sounded from below that both stepped to the open window.
Mux was screaming loudly, and seemed quite beside himself. “Mama, Mama,” he cried out, “just look at a living goat boy and a real goat! Come down and see me!”
Mux was sitting on the seat of a lovely wicker carriage, with two reins in one hand and a whip in the other, while a young and slender goat was pulling him. Agnes and Cornelli were running beside the carriage as protectors, while Dino held the goat lightly by the reins to keep her from running off. All the children were screaming with delight at the wonderful ride.
Matthew was standing beside the bushes to watch this trial trip, for he thought that his help might be needed. He had built the carriage for Cornelli and had already several times harnessed the goat so as to teach her how to behave when Cornelli returned. When Matthew had first shown the little conveyance to the children, Cornelli had said right away that Mux had to take the first ride in order to realize the scene he loved so much in his picture book.
Mux simply screamed to his mother in wild joy. To see the wonderful spectacle from near by, she came down to the garden.
The Director also left the house, but he went another way. Not long afterwards he went up Martha’s little stairway to the porch where the old woman sat on her stool mending.
“Oh, Mr. Hellmut!” she called out in her surprise. Opening the door she led her visitor into her room, for the porch was very narrow.
Mr. Hellmut entered.
“Martha,” he said in a businesslike tone, “I have spoiled your business by taking your boarder away from you forever. That requires a compensation, and so I have just bought your little cottage from the farmer over there, besides the little piece of ground in front of it. Now you will have more room for your carnations, and if you manage well, you can surely have some pleasant days from the rent which you save. Are you satisfied?”
“Oh, Mr. Hellmut! Is this little house really my own, now, and will I really have a garden besides? Oh, Mr. Hellmut!”
But her benefactor would not let her say any more. After heartily shaking her hand, he hurried away.
The large raspberries were peeping out between the green leaves, and the golden plums were dropping from the heavily laden branches. From morning till night on these beautiful summer days Mux fairly swam in uninterrupted bliss. Before he had even opened his eyes in the morning, he would call out to his mother in his sleep: “Oh, mother, are we in Iller-Stream still? Are we still here?” Then the hours of the day began, each more lovely than the last, and Mux could not tell which was the best.
As the boy spent most of the day in the stable, the hayloft, and the barn, his mother had been obliged to make him a special stable costume. The little boy loved to watch the milking of the cows, and he never tired of admiring the horses and the goat.
Matthew had become his best friend. The gardener constantly thought out pleasant surprises for Mux, who showed a decided taste for farming. If Matthew had to do some important work where Mux was in his way, he always devised a plan to keep the boy amused elsewhere: “Go down there to the raspberry hedge, Mux!” he would say. “The berries are finest and biggest there, because the sun has cooked them through. Go to the plum tree afterwards and wait for me!”
Mux would obey promptly, wandering over to the plum tree from the raspberry bushes, which he had lightened considerably. He then would sit thoughtfully under the plum tree, waiting till Matthew returned. The gardener then shook the tree so mightily that a flood of golden plums came rolling down over Mux, who could freely enjoy the wealth about him.
If Matthew could not be found and Cornelli and Dino were busy with their own plans and did not need him, Mux knew another friend who always gave him a good reception, that friend was Esther. He loved to find her in the vegetable garden, which was also full of surprises for him. It was like a marvel to the little boy that the green peas hung here in abundance, whereas they were only served at home on feast days. He became quite scared when Esther picked a basketful. But when he warned her, saying, “Don’t take them all, for then we won’t have any more,” she only laughed and said: “They always
