Just as she was admiring the flowers, the joiner came out of the house and walked directly toward her. "Wouldn't you like to have a few carnations, Wiseli?" he said.
"Yes, very much," she answered. "My mother wanted me to tell you something, too."
"Your mother!" he gasped, and the carnations he had just picked fell unheeded to the ground. Wiseli darted through the gate and picked them up. "When my mother was sick and didn't eat anything any more, she drank that nice fruit juice you put in the kitchen, and it made her feel better. She told me to thank you for bringing it, and for all that you did for her. She said you were very kind."
Wiseli was surprised to see the tears in the good man's eyes. He tried to say something, but he could not. He took Wiseli's hand in both of his, patted it gently, and returned to the house without another word.
Wiseli was amazed. Nobody else had shed any tears for her mother, and she had not allowed herself to do so when anybody could see her; yet here was a man so moved that he could not speak of her. How she loved him for it! She started homeward for fear of being later than the boys, and it was well she did so, for they had just turned in at the gate when she got there.
Wiseli felt so much better when she went to bed that night that she wondered how she could have been so discouraged the evening before. She resolved to keep herself cheerful in the future, if it were possible. The good, kind face of Joiner Andreas was the last thing she thought of before going to sleep.
The following day (it was Wednesday) Otto had a repetition of his strange experience. It had not occurred to him that the good fairy would again appear, and, as usual, he was not able to keep from rushing out with the others and frolicking until the children left the playground. When he returned to do his work, the room was again in the best of order.
He began to be really curious as to whom he had to thank for this favor. He decided to play the spy the next night and solve the mystery. Accordingly, after the school had been dismissed the following afternoon, Otto waited a moment at his seat, wondering how he could get to a hiding place unseen, when the boys began to shout, "Come on, Otto, come on; we want to play robber and you must lead."
"I have to clean up this week, so I won't play to-night," he said.