"It has not entered my head," he replied curtly. "You surely do not think I'd make a trip like that without any reason, like a fellow who does not know what to do with his time."
"No one who knows you could believe that," said his wife. "But Mr. Thornau would not have settled upon a Sunday without a purpose. He knows you would not come on a week day. It was nice of him to invite us; he could have asked anyone to bring the children. He says it would be a favor if we went with them, and I must say, Vinzenz, I've grown to love them dearly, and they are sorry to leave us. They have told me so and have shown me their hearts. I would like to see them safely in their father's hands."
"You can go with them; why not?" he retorted in a perverse tone. "Go with them to Freiburg; you are sufficient escort for them."
"No, Vinzenz, I will not do that," was his wife's decided reply. "You can see by the letter that Mr. Thornau wants you to come. You know very well that I could not decide about the boy's future. We will go together or not at all."
The silence which followed was too prolonged for Mrs. Lesa's patience, and she began again: "When we are invited in such a friendly manner, I do not know why we should not make the trip to Freiburg. Don't you remember how delighted we were as children when father and mother drove us there on a Sunday and how we thought ourselves the luckiest of mortals as we sat in the high carriage between them, traveling off to meet all kinds of adventures? We should make the trip just for memory's sake. First of all we went into the church and heard the great organ. You must recollect how your mother delighted in this above everything else."
"Wouldn't you take pleasure in going there again? Besides, it strikes me it would be a good plan for you to use this chance to visit the estate. You have been wanting to see how matters stood there for quite a while, and you are sure to find lots of things to attend to. Now that Jos is with us, you are better able to leave than later on. It is certainly time you looked into things there. If nothing special takes you, you will not go until something is wrong and then you will regret the delay."
Vinzenz Lesa began thinking the journey might have its good side. With much hesitation and some resentment, he said, "How did you work that all out? I don't see how we could be away so long. It would take three days."
"Not for all of us," replied Mrs. Lesa quickly, for she had thought it all out. "We can attend to everything here early Sunday morning and be in Freiburg that afternoon. I will start back that evening with the children so we can be home Monday morning."
"How many children are you expecting to bring back? The stranger children will have gone, and you have only your one left."
"Only our two, Jos and Stefeli; I'll bring home no strangers," said his wife appeasingly.