After the song was ended the mother took Cornelli kindly by the hand and said: “I am sure that you are tired, dear child. I am going to take you to a tiny bedroom, for I have no larger one. Your door leads into Agnes’ and Nika’s room,” she continued, when she was standing with Cornelli in the little chamber.
“You can open the door and then you are practically all three in a single room.”
Then she said good-night cordially and wished Cornelli a good rest.
Nika and Agnes quickly said good-night, too, and then Cornelli was alone in her room.
She had no desire to open the door, for her shyness had only increased since her arrival. How high the two stood above her! Cornelli was not a bit sleepy and kept on thinking of all the things that had happened to her that day.
What did Agnes mean when she spoke about the most beautiful thing in the world? Did she mean singing? That was not the most beautiful thing by any means. The most wonderful of all was a painting like Nika’s, with lovely roses and trees and the meadow with clear water. At last Cornelli’s eyes closed, but she kept on seeing the flowers and seemed to be looking up admiringly at Nika, who stood beside her, tall and beautiful. Cornelli thought: If she would only say one pleasant word to me. Then Nika turned around to her and said: “You are an awkward, block-headed Cornelli!” All this Cornelli saw and heard in her dream.
Agnes said to her sister in the other room: “If only Cornelli would say something! One cannot tell what she is thinking about. How could Dino find her so amusing, and become her friend? She sits there all the time and never says a word.”
“That is her least fault,” Nika returned. “But it is horrid that she insists on looking like a wild islander. I do not understand why Mama did not push the frightful locks out of her eyes.”
CHAPTER IX
A GREAT CHANGE
Next morning Mux had hardly opened his eyes when he desired to go again straightway to Cornelli, for this had been promised him the night before. Before he succeeded, however, he had to submit to his usual fate in the morning. He ran into the room at last, neatly washed and combed and with cheeks shining like two red apples. Cornelli was already sitting in a corner of the room, listening attentively to Agnes’ playing. He flew towards her and saw his beloved book already in her hands.