"I too," agreed Jos.
Vinzenz Lesa stood at the corner of his barn watching as the herd approached. First Jos ran along one side, then along the other, to keep the cows in file instead of letting them scatter here and there.
"A smart, orderly boy," he thought as he went forward to take charge of the homecomers.
Now came a series of days which passed so happily that Stefeli's wish seemed to be fulfilled.
"It's just as if Vinzi were here again, isn't it, mother, since Jos came?" asked Stefeli one evening as she came in flushed with joy while Jos as usual stayed out with Vinzenz.
"Yes," replied the mother. "As long as we cannot have Vinzi with us, I am glad that Jos takes his place. I love him as much as if he belonged to us."
Jos was always the first one up in the morning, and if the stable was locked, he would find something to do in the barn, and Vinzenz always found him busy about some sensible task.
Stefeli grew impatient mornings when the two did not come into the house until the very last moment when the coffee was already on the table, and on their return, Jos could not be induced to leave his cows until the last one had been watered and was comfortably bedded on the straw.
Everything that grew, that was planted and harvested was a pleasure to Jos, and he wanted to help with it.
At first Vinzenz Lesa had said to his wife bitterly, "Look at him! He enjoys everything and goes to his work with a zeal as if the farm were his own. Just see his pleasure in the life! And the other boy, for whom all the work is done, has no eyes to see it!"