TWO HAPPY TRAVELERS
The return trip had been fully explained to Rico, and he knew that they must leave Sils in the evening. Sam was going with Stineli and Rico as far as Sils; the rest of the family gathered about the door and waved farewell to them until they were lost to view.
"If grandmother could only see us!" said Stineli, as they neared the little church. "Let us go over to her grave for a moment." This they did, for Stineli knew exactly where it was.
"Are the two children here who are to go to Lake Garda?" they heard the coachman say as soon as he arrived.
Rico and Stineli stepped forward. "All right," said the man. "I have instructions to look after you. The coach happens to be full inside, but I am thinking that you are young enough to like it up here with me." He helped them up, tucked a large blanket around them because the night was cool, and then the stage rolled on.
This was the first time that Rico and Stineli had been alone since he came back, and they were both glad of the opportunity to sit so cozily in the starry night and feel again the sweet companionship that they had given up long ago. They had so much to say that they slept but little during the night. They reached Lake Como in the morning, and arrived in Peschiera on the same train that had carried Rico when he came before. He led Stineli by a roundabout way in order to keep the view of the lake hidden by the trees until they came to his favorite place on the bridge.
Suddenly it burst upon them in all its beauty, as Rico had often wished to describe it, only it seemed much more beautiful to Rico now that Stineli was seeing it, too. He rejoiced to hear her say presently, "Oh, it is prettier than Lake Sils—ever so much prettier."
They sat down on the bridge, and for the first time Rico spoke to Stineli about his mother. He told her how well he remembered her, and how often they had been together on this bridge, and how much they had cared for each other.
"Then your home must have been here," said Stineli. "Where did you go when you left the bridge? Can't you remember that?"
"Yes, I know just where we went, but I can't find the house. Everything is just as it used to be until I get to the station; I never saw that until I came here by myself, and I think they must have taken the house away."