As soon as they were out of sight of Beechgreen, Mrs. Ritter turned to
Wiseli, saying, "You know who Joiner Andreas is, don't you, Wiseli?"
"Oh, yes," she answered, her face lighting up on hearing the name.
Mrs. Ritter was pleasantly surprised, and continued, "He is sick,
Wiseli; do you think that you would like to stay with him a couple of
weeks and wait on him so that he will get well again?"
"Of course, Mrs. Ritter, I shall be very glad to go," Wiseli said, and
Mrs. Ritter wished that Andreas could have seen her as she said it.
"You must remember to tell him that you are glad to be with him, if
you are," said Mrs. Ritter; "otherwise he might think we made you
come."
"I shall not forget to tell him," said the little girl.
When they reached the joiner's gate, Mrs. Ritter bade Wiseli enter
without her. "Since I know that you like to go to him, I shall not
need to go in, but you can tell the joiner that I will be over in the
morning, and you must come to me for anything you may want at any
time. Good-by."
It was with a light heart that Wiseli ran up the path to the house,
for she rejoiced that she was to see the man who had been so kind to
her, and that this was to be her home for a few weeks. She understood
what was expected of her, and she knew that the joiner was in bed,
with no one else in the house, so she entered without ringing. How
homelike everything seemed as she looked about! At the farther end of
the room she noticed, through the parted curtains, a large bed freshly
dressed with a white spread and pillows; she wondered who slept in
that room. Then she tapped lightly on the joiner's door, which she
opened as soon as she heard a response. The joiner raised himself on
his elbow to see who was there.
"Wiseli!" he exclaimed, as if in doubt whether to be glad or sorry.
"Come over here and give me your hand." Wiseli silently did as she was
told.
"I am sorry that you had to come to me."
"Why?"
"I only mean that perhaps you would a little rather not have come.
Mrs. Ritter is always so kind that you did it to please her, didn't
you?"
"No, not at all. She never asked me to do it for her. She wanted to
know if I cared to come, and I said, 'Yes.' There is no place in the
whole world where I should have been so glad to go as to your house."
This must have satisfied the joiner, for his head dropped back to the
pillows, and he tried to look at Wiseli, but the tears persisted in
filling his eyes.
"What must I do?" asked Wiseli, when he said nothing further.
"I am sure I don't know, Wiseli," said the joiner, gently. "I shall be
glad to have you do exactly as you please, if you will stay with me a
while first and keep me company."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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