It was on such a misty evening that Otto, on leaving the schoolhouse, ran home for a moment to tell his mother that he was going to see what kept Wiseli from school; for she had not been there since the autumn vacation,--certainly not for eight days. As he approached the beech grove, he saw Rudi sitting before the door, eating pear after pear from a heap that lay before him. "Where is Wiseli?" asked Otto. "Outside," was the answer. "Where outside?" "In the meadow." "In which meadow?" "I don't know;" and Rudi went on munching his pears. "You won't die early because you know too much," remarked Otto, and went haphazard towards the big meadow that stretched away from the house to the wood. Presently he discovered three black spots under the pear-trees, and went towards them. He was right. There was Wiseli stooping over the pears which she was sorting, while a little farther off Cheppi sat astride of his rake; and behind him Hannes lay on his back across the piled-up basket, and rocked it back and forth so violently, that it nearly fell over at each movement. Cheppi looked at him, laughing loudly. When Wiseli saw Otto coming towards her, her whole countenance glowed with pleasure. "Good evening, Wiseli," cried the lad from afar. "Why have you not been to school for so long?" The girl stretched out her hand with a pleasant smile to her friend. "We have had so much to do that I was not able to go," she said. "Just look, what a lot of pears we have! I have to sort them from morning till night, there are so many." "Your shoes and stockings are all wet. It is not pleasant here. Are you not cold when you are so wet?" "Yes, I do feel chilly sometimes; but, in general, I get very warm at this work." At this moment Hannes gave his basket such a powerful twist that over it went, and there lay Hannes, the basket, and the pears all in a heap on the ground. "Oh, oh!" cried Wiseli in distress; "now they are all to be picked up again." "And this one, too," cried Cheppi, and laughed aloud as the pear that he had in his hand struck Wiseli's cheek with such force that it brought the tears to her eyes, and she turned quite white with the pain. Scarcely had Otto seen this than he flew at Cheppi, threw him and his rake to the ground, and seized him by the nape of the neck. "Stop, or I shall choke!" Cheppi was not laughing now. "I want to make you remember that you will also have me to deal with in future, when you treat Wiseli in that way," said Otto, scarlet with anger. "Have you got enough? Will you remember it now?" "Yes, yes! Let me go!" said Cheppi, in a very humble tone. Otto released him. "Now you have felt," he said, "how it will be whenever you hurt Wiseli again. I will give you some more of this each time, even if you are sixty years old. Good-by, Wiseli." And Otto went his way to carry his anger to his mother.