Cornelli | Page 6

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.
"Yes, I am quite sure of that, Cornelli," Martha eagerly answered. "If our dear Lord lets his dwelling glow so beautifully from outside, just think how wonderful it must be inside where the blessed are in their happiness!"
"Why are they so glad?" Cornelli wanted to know.
"Oh, because they are freed from all sorrow and pain. They are also glad because they know that every pain or sorrow their loved ones on earth have to bear is only a means to bring their prayers to Him who alone can guide them to Heaven."
"Did my mother pray to Him, too?" asked Cornelli again.
"Yes, yes, Cornelli, you can be sure of that," Martha reassured her. "Your mother was a good, pious lady. Everybody should pray to be able to go where she is."
The two now reached the post office and gave their message to the innkeeper and postmaster. When twilight had come and the evening bell had long ago rung, they wandered back along the pleasant valley road between green meadows.
CHAPTER II
UP IN THE TOP STORY

One bright morning in May, a portly gentleman, leaning heavily on a gold-headed cane, was walking up the narrow city street. The houses here were so high that the upper windows could scarcely be seen from below. A steep rise in the street caused the gentleman to stop from time to time to get his breath. Scrutinizing the house numbers, he said to himself several times: "Not yet, not yet." Then, climbing up still higher, he at last reached a house beside whose open door six bells were hanging.
The gentleman now began to study the names under the bells, meanwhile gravely shaking his head, for he did not seem to find the name he was seeking.
"Oh dear, at last! and the highest one up, too," he sighed, while he entered the house. Now the real climbing began. At first the steps, though rather high, were white and neat. But after a while they became dark and narrow, and in the end the way led over worn, uneven steps to a narrow door. The only standing room was on the last small step.
"Is this a cage?" said the climber to himself, breathing hard and holding fast to the railing. The thin and creaking steps seemed to him extremely unsafe. After he had pulled the bell-rope, the door opened, and a lady dressed in black stood before him.
"Oh, is it you, kind guardian?" she exclaimed with astonishment. "I am so sorry that you had to come up these winding steps," she added, for she noticed that the stout gentleman had to wipe his face after the great exertion. "I should have been very glad to go down to you, if you had let me know that you were here." The lady meanwhile had led the gentleman into the room and asked him to seat himself.
"As your guardian I simply had to come once to see you," he declared, seating himself on an old sofa and still leaning with both hands on the golden knob of his cane.