Family -- Juvenile fiction; Switzerland -- Juvenile fiction
“But do not forget to say that it is in the country, and tell the name
of the place here, so that they can find me,” said Martha, fearing she
had set Cornelli a very difficult task.
“That is true, I have to say that, too,” remarked Cornelli. When she
had written the ending she began to read aloud: “If somebody should
want a nice room, he can have it with Martha Wolf. She will take good
care of delicate ladies or children and will see that they will be
comfortable. Everything is very neat and there are lovely new blue and
white covers on everything. It is in the country, in Iller-Stream,
beside the Iller-Stream, quite near the large iron works.”
Martha was thoroughly pleased. “You have said everything so clearly
that one can easily understand it,” she remarked. “I could not have
said it myself, you see, for it would have seemed like boasting. Now
if I only knew where to send it for the paper. I do not know quite
what address to write on it.”
“Oh, I know quite well what to do,” Cornelli reassured her friend, “I
shall take it quickly to the post office. Sometimes when I have taken
letters there, I have heard people say to the innkeeper: ‘This must
be put in the paper.’ Then he took it and said: ‘I’ll look after it.’
Now I shall do the same. Just give it to me, Martha.”
Once more the woman glanced through what had been written. It seemed
very strange to her that her name was going to appear in the newspaper,
but, of course, it was necessary.
“No, no, my good child,” she replied, “you have done enough for me
now. You have helped me wonderfully, and I do not want you to go there
for me. But your advice is good and I shall take the paper there
myself.”
“Oh yes, and I’ll come, too,” said Cornelli delightedly. She knew no
greater pleasure than to take a walk with her old friend, for Martha
always discovered such interesting things and could point them out to
Cornelli, telling her many, many things about them. In many places
Martha would be reminded of Cornelli’s mother; then with great
tenderness she would tell the child about her. Martha was the only one
who ever talked to Cornelli about her mother. Her father never spoke
of her; and Esther, who had been in their service for a long time,
always replied when the child wanted to talk to her about her mother:
“Do not talk, please; it only makes one sad. People shouldn’t stir up
such memories.”
“So you are coming, too?” Martha said happily. It was her greatest joy
to take a walk with her small, merry companion. Cornelli hung on her
arm, and together they wandered forth in the beautiful evening. The
storm clouds had passed over, and towards the west the sky was flaming
like fiery gold.
“Do you think, Martha, that my mother can see the golden sky as well
from inside as we see it from the outside?” asked the child, pointing
to the sunset.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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