|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 50
Highly delighted with his success, Oscar told the other children of his
plans, and asked Fani to go with him to the factory to see the two boys.
Fani refused decidedly. Mrs. Stanhope, he said, did not allow him and
Elsli to visit people with whom she was not acquainted, especially in
the neighborhood. But when Elsli saw how badly Oscar felt at this
refusal, she said:--
"Perhaps you can go, Oscar. If you don't think of any better way, I'll
tell you what I think you could do. When I came away from home, Mr.
Bickel asked me to look about here and find out what sort of factories
there were in this neighborhood, and send him word so that he might know
whether he could form any business relations with them. I have not been
able to do anything about it. Perhaps you could go and visit the
factory, and then write to Mr. Bickel about it"
"I always said you were the cleverest girl in the world," cried Oscar,
with delight; for he saw the way now clear before him. That afternoon,
when they all went out to the court-yard and garden for their out-door
games, he ran off to the factory. The dwelling-house stood not far from
the canal, surrounded by a pretty flower-garden. Under the trees two
lads were playing ball. They played with such zeal that Oscar, looking
over the hedge, became absorbed in watching them, and entirely forgot
his object He was a good player himself; but such throws!
"Bravo!" he cried; and the boys looked round. "Come and play too,"
called one of them.
Oscar asked nothing better. Hardly had he entered the yard than piff!
paff! the play began again. Such a game he had never had before, nor
with such players. The boys were as well pleased as he; and they played
on till the big factory bell rang for close of work, and Oscar
remembered that he must go home. He wanted to make acquaintance with
these boys. The three playmates had, to be sure, already struck up a
friendship, but they did not even know each other's names. Oscar now
told his, and asked theirs; and learned that they were named Fink; the
sons of the family who lived in the large house. They were from St.
Gall, and were warm-hearted, wide awake young fellows. They made
friends with this new acquaintance from Switzerland with all their
hearts, and Oscar was as ardent as they. What enterprises they would
plan and carry out together! But there was no time to stop and talk
about it now. He could only hint to them that he had a project of
founding a great society of Swiss, a kind of Swiss Confederation, in
which he wished them to take part. They received the idea with
enthusiasm, and, having fixed a time for meeting his new friends again,
Oscar returned to Rosemount with a happy heart. But what kind of a
factory that was of Mr. Fink's, he knew as little as before; he had
forgotten to ask.
From this time Oscar was always missing during the time that the
children were left to themselves to play as they pleased out-of-doors.
No one minded his absence; Fred was so busy with his collections that
he thought of nothing else; Fani and Emma were absorbed in their own
plans and only wanted to be let alone; and Elsli, feeling that her
society was not important to any one, sat by herself on the bench under
the lindens, occupied with her own thoughts by the hour together.
Sometimes she grew unhappy at the thought that she was living here so
well-off and at ease, while her father and mother still had such a hard
life at home. Often she thought about Nora, and wondered if she had
forgotten to ask the heavenly Father to call her to himself. She could
well be spared from the earth, where no one needed her, and she longed
to go. To tell the truth, Elsli dreaded to look forward. She did not
feel at home in Mrs. Stanhope's house; she had a constant sense of
unfitness for the position; yet when she thought of going back to her
parents, she knew that there she should be equally out of place. So the
poor child was living a lonely life at beautiful Rosemount, and thinking
herself a useless and superfluous being on the face of the earth.
Down along the bank of the river, a narrow foot-path ran for some
distance towards a thick clump of willows, in which it disappeared.
Elsli had often followed this path by herself; it was so quiet that she
liked it particularly; she never met any one there, for it led only from
Mrs. Stanhope's grounds to the willows. To-day, after Elsli had sat
alone for a time, she rose and walked along this path, and gazed at the
ever-moving waves as they rushed headlong toward the sea. Sunk in
thought, she came at last nearer to the willows than she had ever been
before. The bushes grew larger and higher and became real trees; from a
distance they looked like a thick wood that reached far into the water.
Here was complete solitude; not a creature was to be seen, and the plash
of the water below was the only sound that broke the stillness. Suddenly
a loud scream startled the air. Elsli drew back in alarm. Louder and
louder grew the sounds of distress, now pausing, then beginning afresh.
The child, recovering her courage, hurried forward to the spot from
which they came. Behind the first low-growing clump of willows the
ground was wet and swampy; and fast caught in the bog stood two
children;--a little girl, who was screaming with all her might, and a
boy, who was tugging at his sister's arm as hard as he could. When he
found that he could not pull her out he too began to cry aloud. Elsli
came to their aid, and lifted the little girl from her uncomfortable
position. The boy then slowly worked his way out, but his wooden shoes
were a great encumbrance, and he moved with difficulty. When the two
children stood at last on dry land with their wet shoes and clothes
soaked with muddy water, they presented a pitiable sight, and Elsli
asked them sympathetically whether they were far from home, and where
they lived.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|