“I am going to take the boy away on Sunday,” he said upon entering. “I’ll take him to my brother in Freiburg, who will be only too glad to get Vinzi. There is always lots of work till winter time. Vinzi can’t count on many distractions there, so it will be good for him if he has plenty to do.”
Mrs. Lesa’s work slipped out of her hands. Pale with dread, she gazed at her husband.
“Have you thought about the condition your brother is in, Vinzenz? Do you remember what name they call him by?” she asked, dreadfully frightened. In her mind’s eye she saw Vinzi before her, staring in front of him as he was wont to do, and her brother-in-law’s pathetic figure right beside him.
“That does not matter,” answered her husband. “My brother is not vicious he only hates giving orders. He does not like to work, but his mind is quite clear enough to know that the place needs a master besides a servant. That is why he wants me to come back or send him my boy. Vinzi is not stupid. As soon as he sees that he can give orders, he’ll get a liking for it, which is the first step to knowledge. It is the best way out for him, believe me! I have thought it out and I mean to go on Sunday.”
Mrs. Lesa wished to raise other objections, but everything she said seemed only to confirm her husband’s statement that he had found the right place for Vinzi, so she remained silent. When her husband had gone and she was left alone with her own thoughts, she remembered her great grief when Vinzi had been sent away before. How differently things had gone with him from what she had feared. She had really been ungrateful to God, for he had brought her lad to kindly people. Why should she begin to worry and doubt again, as if she knew better what was good for Vinzi? She would put everything into His hands, with the confidence that the good Father in Heaven meant well with all His children and would lead hers also to final happiness. This thought calmed her. She decided to talk it all over with Vinzi, who as yet knew nothing of his near departure. She found it better to prepare him by telling him about the farm of his ancestors. Then he would understand that he was sent away because some one was needed on the place.
That evening, when she heard Vinzi coming home, she called him in. He had been out in the woods all day with his father. As the father had work to do in the barn and stable, he would not miss the boy. Stefeli, who ran in at once, was sent off on an errand to the barn in the hope that she would probably remain a considerable time with her old friends in the stable.
But Stefeli had noticed that the mother had something special in mind regarding Vinzi and as she wanted to hear it all, she returned in a twinkling. The mother, however, was not desirous of her presence.
“Go over to the barnyard,” she said, “and look for eggs in every nook and corner. You know that the chickens lay them sometimes where one least suspects them. Bring them here afterwards, but be sure to look everywhere.”
Stefeli ran as fast as she could go, but she had barely left the house, when she came running back. Flinging open the door, she cried, “He is coming back! He is coming back!”
The next moment she was gone again. The mother and Vinzi looked at each other. The same thought had flashed through their heads, but it seemed so impossible that they did not dare to mention it.