Heimatlos Part 20

"Your mother!" he gasped, and the carnations he had just picked fell unheeded to the ground. Wiseli darted through the gate and picked them up. "When my mother was sick and didn't eat anything any more, she drank that nice fruit juice you put in the kitchen, and it made her feel better. She told me to thank you for bringing it, and for all that you did for her. She said you were very kind."

Wiseli was surprised to see the tears in the good man's eyes. He tried to say something, but he could not. He took Wiseli's hand in both of his, patted it gently, and returned to the house without another word.

Wiseli was amazed. n.o.body else had shed any tears for her mother, and she had not allowed herself to do so when anybody could see her; yet here was a man so moved that he could not speak of her. How she loved him for it! She started homeward for fear of being later than the boys, and it was well she did so, for they had just turned in at the gate when she got there.

Wiseli felt so much better when she went to bed that night that she wondered how she could have been so discouraged the evening before.

She resolved to keep herself cheerful in the future, if it were possible. The good, kind face of Joiner Andreas was the last thing she thought of before going to sleep.

The following day (it was Wednesday) Otto had a repet.i.tion of his strange experience. It had not occurred to him that the good fairy would again appear, and, as usual, he was not able to keep from rushing out with the others and frolicking until the children left the playground. When he returned to do his work, the room was again in the best of order.

He began to be really curious as to whom he had to thank for this favor. He decided to play the spy the next night and solve the mystery. Accordingly, after the school had been dismissed the following afternoon, Otto waited a moment at his seat, wondering how he could get to a hiding place unseen, when the boys began to shout, "Come on, Otto, come on; we want to play robber and you must lead."

"I have to clean up this week, so I won't play to-night," he said.

"What difference will fifteen minutes make? Come on."

He gave up his scheme of playing spy and went with the boys. Instead of the game's lasting fifteen minutes, it was half an hour before it was over, and Otto felt anxious as to whether he must still do his work. He ran panting to the schoolroom and gave the door such a vigorous kick that the teacher came in to see what had happened.

"What do you want, Otto?" he asked.

"Just to see if I did everything," stammered Otto.

"Very well done," commented the teacher, as he looked about. "Your zeal is praiseworthy, Otto, but you needn't be so boisterous when you come to the door again."

Otto went out more curious than ever. He determined to find out the next night without fail, for, with the exception of Sat.u.r.day morning, it would be his last opportunity.

"Otto," called the teacher as soon as he had dismissed school the next day, "I wish you would take this note to the pastor's for me and wait for an answer; you can be back in five or ten minutes to do your cleaning."

Otto was not in the least pleased to do the teacher's errand, but he dared not refuse, so he started off at a run, hoping to be back in time to capture the good fairy, if she appeared to do his work. When he got to the parsonage, he was admitted at once, and told that the pastor would see him directly. Then the minister's wife called him to the garden to chat a moment, and it seemed an age to him before he could free himself courteously, for she asked not only about himself and his health, but that of his mother, father, Uncle Max, Miezi, and apparently all the relatives in Germany.

Finally the opportunity came to present the note to the pastor, and it was but a moment later when he was speeding back to the schoolhouse with the written answer in his hand. He fairly stumbled into the schoolroom in his eagerness to see if any one was there, but, as before, the room was in the best of order and not a soul to be seen.

"Not once this week have I had to do that disagreeable task," he thought. "Since there is some one who is doing such work without needing to, I am at least going to find out who it is."

The school closed at eleven o'clock on Sat.u.r.day. Otto let all the children pa.s.s out; when they had gone, he went outside, locked the door, and stood with his back against it waiting to see who would come back to do the work. He stood there waiting until half past eleven, and still no one came.

Otto remembered that the family at home were to have lunch promptly at twelve, for an afternoon's outing had been planned and he had promised to get home as early as possible. It became evident that he was going to have to do the work himself, and he dared wait no longer. Greatly disappointed, he unlocked the door and entered the room, but--Otto could scarcely believe his eyes--the work was finished as usual.

How very strange it seemed! For a moment a superst.i.tious fear possessed him, and he tiptoed to the door and went out, taking pains to lock it securely behind him.

Just at that moment Wiseli came quietly out of the teacher's kitchen door; she listened intently for a moment, but hearing no one, started on her way home, which led her by the schoolhouse door. The next moment she and Otto were face to face. Each was startled at the other's presence, and Wiseli blushed deeply, as if she had been caught doing something very wrong. This partly betrayed her to Otto, who said: "Surely, Wiseli, _you_ have not been doing all that work for me this week? How _could_ any one who didn't have to?"

"It has given me a great deal of pleasure," said Wiseli.

"Oh, no, don't say that!" exclaimed Otto. "To do such work _couldn't_ give anybody any pleasure."

"But it did, really, Otto. I was always glad when night came and I could do it again. I was all the time thinking how glad and surprised you would be to find the task finished."

"What made you do it for me, Wiseli?"

"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 pa.s.sed, and now the late autumn was at hand. The nights were getting cold and damp. The cows were eating the last bits of gra.s.s 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."