“No, no, Cornelli, you won’t go away yet,” Dino now said. “To-morrow I am allowed to get up for the first time and you must be there to see if I can still walk. After that you must stay here till I go to school; won’t you, Cornelli? You don’t want to go, do you?”
“You must not urge her too much,” said the mother. “Maybe Cornelli would rather go home, and by your talking you might keep her from saying so.” But being urged by the two children was such a joy to Cornelli that she never even hesitated.
“I should love to stay,” she said.
“Oh, how splendid!” Dino exclaimed. “Please ask for at least two or three weeks, Mama. It is so nice to have Cornelli with us.”
“I shall ask Cornelli’s father to let us have his daughter a while longer,” said the mother, “I cannot possibly settle the time, her father will do that.”
“Oh, yes, a while longer is just right. Then it is so easy to ask for a little more time, for we can say that we meant that by a little longer,” said Dino.
The same day, later on, while Dino was resting, Cornelli was sitting with Mux. They were both so happy over the prospect of remaining together that Mux opened the piano and asked Cornelli to sing with him. Cornelli could not play, so promised that she would try to sing. She asked Mux to choose a song, but he knew none.
“You sing one,” he proposed, “and I might know it, too.”
Cornelli was just in the mood to sing once more. She began a song with her bright, full voice and Mux listened admiringly.
The snow’s on the meadow,