Veronica And Other Friends | Page 7

you
can't tell them apart, they grow up to be such very different men and
women."
"No, no, these four were never alike," replied Gertrude, "but I agree
that they grow more and more unlike every day."
"Yes, that they do. And of you three near neighbors, you certainly have
drawn the best lot in children," said Judith with enthusiasm, "two like
your two are not to be found in a long day's journey. Veronica will
fully repay you for what you have done for her."
"I have been repaid long ago by the child's attachment to me. She has
never given me anything but satisfaction ever since her mother died. If
I have any anxiety about Veronica it is lest she over-work herself.
There is something feverish in her love of work; she can never do
enough. No matter how late I go into her room at night, she is always
finishing off some piece of work; and no matter how early I get up in
the morning, she has already begun something new. If I had not
positively forbidden it, she would keep at it even on a Sunday. It is a
real source of anxiety to me, lest she should over-work and break
down."
"Oh, I don't think you need be afraid of that, Gertrude; work never yet
hurt any one, least of all the young folks. Let her work away. But I
don't see the need of her scowling so all the time. She looks for all the
world as if she were fighting and struggling against enemies and

difficulties of all sorts. I like better Dietrich's laughing eyes; they are so
full of fun. When he goes down the street singing--
'Gladly and merrily Live to-day cheerily, Black care and sorrow Leave
till to-morrow,'
it goes right to my heart, and I could sing too for very joy. No one can
help loving him."
Gertrude listened with sunshine in her face to these words of praise, but
a little cloud of anxiety shadowed her eyes as she said,
"Yes, God be praised, he is a good boy and means well, but I do wish
that he had a little of Veronica's firmness of purpose. It is very pleasant
to have every one like him, but too great popularity is not always a
good thing. And those two companions that are always hanging about
him, are not such as I myself would choose for his friends."
"If they could all be put to some steady work it would be the best thing
for them," said Judith. "Idleness is the mother of mischief. Blasi is not
an ill-meaning fellow, but he is lazy, greatly to his own injury. Long
Jost is the worst of the two; a sly-boots, and a rare one too. It is to be
hoped that he will break his own leg, when he's trying to trip some one
else up with it."
"No, no, Judith, on this holy Easter day, we will not have such unkind
hopes as that. I hope and believe that the good God holds the children
in his protecting hand. We have given them to him; that is my comfort
and support Good-bye, Judith; come often to see us; we are always glad
of your company."
On the evening of this sunny Easter day, while rosy clouds moved
slowly across the clear sky, and the golden glow faded in the far west
behind the wooded heights, Gertrude came back from a long walk in
the fields and woods. On one side of her strode Dietrich, talking rapidly
and earnestly: the fresh joy of youth was written in every movement of
his little figure, and laughed from the depths of his clear eyes. On the
other side Veronica walked, listening in silence. Her noble features,

above which her black hair fell in shining waves, had a serious,
thoughtful expression, but every now and then, when Dietrich let fall
some particularly apt expression, a look would cross her face that
irradiated it like a sunbeam crossing a shadowed plain. Mother
Gertrude looked now proudly at her radiant son, now approvingly at
her stately daughter, and again she lifted grateful glances towards the
glowing heavens where she saw promise of another brilliant day to
come. Far and wide, in all Tannenegg, was not to be found that day,
such another happy mother as Gertrude.
When they reached the crossways where the footpath led up by the
tavern of the Rehbock, Dietrich turned into it, and his mother was about
to follow him, but Veronica drew her back, saying anxiously,
"Don't go that way, mother dear; it is not much farther by the other
road."
Dietrich laughed aloud.
"Now there it is again. Do you know, mother, that I can never get
Veronica to go