“I would carry it all home to my mother. She had no bread to-day; nothing but a little goat’s milk.”
The hearts of the student party were filled with compassion. He should have what he wished, and where did his mother live; was it near by?
When Barty explained it was high up in the mountain, they exclaimed with astonishment, and Barbarossa said, “If you have come so far, you are surely hungry. Is it not so, Barty?”
“Yes, and we had only a little bit of bread, but when Mother can finish some knitting, we can have more.”
Now all were interested and various plans were suggested, but Barbarossa said, “First I will see that these two children have enough to eat, then we will attend to the rest. Here, Barty, eat all that is on your plate, and then your mother shall have what is on the table.”
“Eat all of this?” said the boy with beaming eyes.
“Yes, every bit of it; now begin.”
Barty needed no more asking, and Maximilian saw to it that his little charge had all she could eat.
“Did your mother send you here to sing your song?” asked Barbarossa.
“No; she did not know it. She fell back on the cot and went fast asleep because she was so hungry, and she looked so white, and she had said she wished she could see a doctor, and so I told Franzelie to come with me and perhaps we could get bread just as we did on New Year’s Day.”