“Your cousin is really coming, Cornelli, and I am certain that you are happy now,” said her father. He had read the letter while they were having supper. “Another lady is coming, too, and with their arrival a new delightful life will begin for you.” Cornelli, who had never before heard anything about this relation of her father’s, felt no joy at this news. She did not see anything pleasing in the prospect. On the contrary, it only meant a change in the household, which she did not in the least desire. She wanted everything to remain as it was. She had no other wish. Cornelli saw her father only at meals, for he spent all the rest of his time in his business offices and in the extensive works. But the child never felt lonely or forsaken. She always had many plans, and there was hardly a moment when she was not occupied. Her time between school hours always seemed much too short and the evenings only were half as long as she wanted them to be. It was then that she loved to walk and roam around. Her father had barely left the room, when she again ran outside and, as usual, down the path. At that moment the energetic Esther was coming from the garden with a large basket on her arm. She had wisely picked some vegetables for the following day. “Don’t go out again, Cornelli,” she said. “Just look at the gray clouds above the mountain! I am afraid we shall have a thunderstorm.” “Oh, I just have to go to Martha,” replied Cornelli quickly. “I must tell her something, and I don’t think a storm will come so soon.” “Of course it won’t come for a long while,” called Miss Mina. Through the open door she had overheard the warning and had stepped outside to say: “Just go to Martha, Cornelli; the storm won’t come for a long time, I am sure.” So the child flew away while Esther passed Miss Mina, silently shrugging her shoulders. That was always the way it happened when Cornelli wanted anything. If Miss Mina thought that something should not be done, Esther always arrived, saying that nothing on earth would be easier than to do that very thing. Or, if she thought that Cornelli should not do a thing, Miss Mina always helped to have it put through. The reason for this was a very simple one: each of them wanted to be the favorite with the child. Cornelli, arriving at Martha’s house, shot up the stairs and into the little room. Full of excitement, she called out: “Just think, Martha, two strange people are coming to our house. They are two ladies from the city, and father said that I should be glad; but I am not a bit glad, for I do not know them. Would you be glad, Martha, if two new people suddenly came to visit you?” The child had to take a deep breath. She had been running fast and had spoken terribly quickly. “Just sit down here with me, Cornelli, and get your breath again,” said Martha quietly. “I am sure that somebody is coming whom your father loves, otherwise he would not tell you to be glad. When you know them, I am sure you will feel happy.”