"I knew that you didn't like to do it, and I have many a time wished for an opportunity to do something for you." "I am sure you have done a great deal more for me than I did for you, and I shall not forget it, Wiseli." Otto had taken Wiseli's hand in his and she was very happy. "I waited to-day until everybody had gone, and even now I cannot see how you got into that room," said Otto. "I never went out," she replied. "I hid behind my seat, for I expected you to go out as usual." "How have you always before managed to get away without my seeing you?" asked Otto. "You don't notice much when you are playing," said Wiseli. "Yesterday and to-day, when I was not sure where you were, I went through the teacher's room and asked his wife if she had an errand she would like to have me do on the way home. I have several times done things for her. I was behind the kitchen door yesterday when you stormed into the schoolroom." Both children laughed heartily at the remembrance. Otto impulsively pressed Wiseli's hand and said, "I am truly grateful to you. Good-by." After they had gone their separate ways, they both rejoiced that they had discovered each other. CHAPTER VI A NEW FEATURE The summer had passed, and now the late autumn was at hand. The nights were getting cold and damp. The cows were eating the last bits of grass in the chilly pastures, while the boys herding them built fires to warm themselves and to roast potatoes. One such unpleasant evening Otto came home from school to tell his mother that he was going over to see what Wiseli was doing, for she had not been at school for a whole week. He took an apple and hurried away. As he went up the path to Beechgreen he noticed Rudi sitting on the ground in front of the door with a pile of pears beside him; he was busily engaged biting into first one and then another. "Where is Wiseli?" asked Otto. "Outdoors," answered Rudi. "Where outdoors?" "In the pasture." "In what pasture?" "I don't know." "You will not suffer from overpoliteness at least," remarked Otto. He started for the large pasture near the woods. Just then he noticed some people under a pear tree near at hand, and soon he saw Wiseli gathering pears into a basket. Hans had thrown himself face upward across a filled basket and was rocking himself in a way which threatened the overturn of the pears. Chappi was perched up in the tree laughing at his brother's antics. When Wiseli saw Otto coming, her face broke into happy smiles. "I have come to see how you are, Wiseli," said Otto, as he took her hand. "Why have you been out of school so long?" "There was so much to be done that I couldn't go, Otto. See what a lot of pears there are! I have to pick pears from morning until night." "Your shoes and stockings are soaked," remarked Otto. "Ugh, it is cold here. Doesn't it make you sick to get so wet?" "Yes, sometimes; but the work usually keeps me warm."