“I don’t care if I never can go to the pantry any more, I don’t care,” Cornelli exploded now. “She can eat all the things herself which drop beside the plate. I don’t care. I don’t want anything as long as I can go to the little kid in the stable; it really is the most cunning creature in the whole world. Have you seen it yet, Esther?” “Certainly I have, and why not?” the cook replied. “Matthew took me out to the stable as soon as it was born. You can certainly go to see it as long as it is in our own stable. Just go there as much as you like! Nobody can forbid you that.” “My teacher is coming,” Cornelli now exclaimed, “and I have to go.” “Yes, child, but do keep up your spirits. There are lots of pleasant things still left for you to enjoy. Just wait till you taste the strawberry tarts I am going to make to-day.” With these words Esther smacked her lips to express the great succulence of the promised dish. “I wouldn’t even care if you baked nettle tarts; I wish I didn’t have to eat at table and could just eat berries in the garden and drink milk in the stable.” Cornelli ran towards the house, for she had forgotten to walk sedately, as she had been told to do. While Cornelli had her lessons upstairs in the living room, in the jessamine arbor both ladies were sitting on a garden bench. “It would be so pleasant and agreeable here,” said Miss Dorner, “and my cousin could have such a very charming life, if the child were only a little different. Don’t you think, Betty, that she has no manners whatever?” “Yes, but she has had no training at all.” remarked Miss Grideelen; “and she may have inherited some qualities from her mother.” “Oh no, not a single trait! You cannot possibly imagine a greater difference than between the mother and this child,” Miss Dorner exclaimed. “Cornelia was full of amiability and gayety. She always greeted and cheered everyone with her laughing brown eyes. If my cousin could only have the happiness to see his child resemble her mother the slightest bit! He was so fond of his wife! He deserves this joy, for he is a splendid man.” “It is curious how very different children can be from their parents,” said Miss Grideelen with regret in her voice. “But I am sure that something can still be accomplished by educating the child. Many qualities can be developed that hardly show themselves yet. We ought to do our best for her, especially for her father’s sake.” “That is just what I am doing, Betty. Unfortunately, I have had very little success as yet,” answered Miss Dorner. “But I just hope that the day will come when I can write her father some pleasant news about Cornelli, something different from what I feel obliged to send him now.”