"But I am not allowed to sit idle except on Sunday. Besides, I can knit and talk at the same time."
"If you will be any more contented with a stocking, get one, by all means, but please remember that I don't want you to work unless you prefer to do so," said the joiner.
In this quiet way they passed one day after another. Everything Wiseli did pleased the joiner, and she was thanked for every little service as if it were of the utmost importance. The patient gained so much in strength that he was soon clamoring for permission to get up. The doctor told him that he might sit up whenever he wished, and much of his time was now spent sitting in the bay window in the living room, where the warm sunshine helped to make the days cheerful. He liked to watch his little housekeeper moving about at her household duties, and she succeeded in making his house more attractive than he had ever hoped to see it.
Wiseli so enjoyed herself in this comfortable home, where she had the assurance of being cared for and protected, that she sometimes forgot she must soon give it up and return to her uncle at Beechgreen.
CHAPTER VIII
THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS
In the home on the hill they talked often of the good joiner and Wiseli. Mrs. Ritter went to see them every morning, and she always brought encouraging news home with her. Otto and Miezi were planning a surprise for Andreas and Wiseli in which they meant to celebrate their friend's recovery. To-day, however, they had a celebration in their own home, for it was their father's birthday. It had seemed like a real holiday to the children ever since they got up in the morning, and now they were about to enjoy the birthday feast. They were all in the best of humor. After the first course had been served, there was placed before Mrs. Ritter a covered dish which, when the cover had been removed, displayed a cabbage head looking as fresh and natural as if it had just come from the garden.
"That dish is certainly pretty enough to be praised," said the father; "but really I was expecting to see something else, Marie. You know at every feast I am on the lookout for my favorite vegetable, the artichoke. Isn't it on the menu to-day?"