When she reached his house and entered as usual, she was surprised to see Wiseli run out of the room in tears, and the joiner sitting in the deepest gloom, as if a great sorrow had befallen him.
"What has happened?" she exclaimed, as she stood still in astonishment.
"Mrs. Ritter," he faltered, "I wish that the child had never come to my house."
"What!" she exclaimed, more amazed than ever. "Wiseli? What can she have done?"
"Oh, for heaven's sake, don't misunderstand me, Mrs. Ritter!" he cried. "It is only because she has been here and has made a little paradise out of my humble home that I am so unhappy. They have sent for her the second time, and she has to go back to Beechgreen. I shall be miserable without her. You don't know how hard it is for me to let her go. She would rather stay with me, too, so we are both unhappy over it. I would give the uncle all I have saved in the last thirty years, if he would only let me keep her."
Mrs. Ritter sighed in relief and said, "I should do nothing of the sort; I know of a much better way."
He looked at her questioningly.
"I should adopt Wiseli, if I were you and wanted her. Then you will be her father and she will be your child and heir. Wouldn't that be a better way, Andreas?"
Andreas grasped Mrs. Ritter's hand as he asked eagerly, "Is such a thing possible?"