THE June sun was streaming down upon the green slope above the village of Leuk, and the fresh green grass which covered the heights as far as the eye could see filled the air with fragrance. At an isolated house along the path which led to the baths of Leuk, two women were lost in lively talk; indeed it seemed as if they could never come to the end of everything they had to say to each other.

“Yes, Marianna,” said the more talkative of the two, “if you could furnish a couple of rooms the way I did, you would soon realize a good profit. You could soon get boarders among the people who have relatives at the baths. You know some of them do not want to go there, or are not allowed to, just like the three who are staying with me. You really are a little too far down, for people like to go a little higher up in the summer. If only you were living where those people over there do. They certainly have the best spot on the slope and own all the very best meadows. But I do not think much of them,” the woman concluded with an unfriendly glance toward the house which stood a little higher up and away from the road. “They are nearly eaten up with pride, especially she, and you ought to see her.”

“In what way do they show it?” Marianna asked.

“In what way? You might just as well ask in what way they don’t show it,” Magdalene replied quickly. “They show it in everything. In everything they do and in the way they dress as if it were always Sunday with them. She has brought up the children to be just as particular as she is. The boy’s black hair is always curled as if he were going to the church fair and the little one always carries her nose high in the air as if she meant to say, ‘Watch out, here I come!’”

“How can the little one help it if her nose has grown that way?” was Marianna’s opinion. “And the boy can’t help his curly hair either. Doesn’t the woman speak to you when you meet her?”

“Oh yes, she does, and I would not exactly advise her to let her pride go as far as that,” said Magdalene in a threatening manner, “but you are mistaken if you imagine that she ever stops a minute to say a few words to a neighbor. If one starts to talk with her, she just gives a short answer and hurries away as if she did not think one her equal. She can wait awhile before I ever say anything to her again.”

Marianna looked at the house in question and exclaimed full of astonishment, “How is that? As long as I can remember, the house over there looked old and gray, not a window was ever opened, and all the panes were dirty and dull from age. It looked like a robber’s den. Now it is snow-white and the windows shine in the sun. It can’t be the same house!”

“It certainly is! Now you can see how proud they are,” replied Magdalene eagerly. “Old farmer Lesa lived there with his old housekeeper more than fifty years; all that time he did not hammer in a single nail, for he was satisfied with the way it had been in his father’s and his grandfather’s time. Just as soon as his eyes were closed, his heir came across the Gemmi[A] and things were torn down, cleaned and renewed until one might think a count was moving in. Of course the woman was the cause of it all, for nothing that the parents had admired was good enough for her.”

“But I should think that it was not unnecessary to clean and straighten up a bit if the last owner had not fixed up a nail in the house for fifty years and had let things go as his father and grandfather had left them,” replied Marianna. “The old house certainly was ugly, and how changed it is! Why did you say that his heir came from across the Gemmi? Are the Lesas not from our parts?”

“Yes, they are, and there are several of that name hereabouts,” replied Magdalene, “but one of them is supposed to have married across the Gemmi and to have stayed there with his wife near Berne or Freiburg. But I only know this from hearsay, for it was either a hundred or two hundred years ago. When old Lesa died, it was found that his nearest relatives were the same we were talking of, so it happened that Vinzenz Lesa moved here with his wife and two children about two years ago. I heard that there too they have a fine house and a lot of cows, and that their pastures over there are very fine, as well as their breed of cattle. I think Vinzenz’s brother now takes care of the other place. I do not know whether Vinzenz is going back there again when he has put everything here in good shape, nor whether he means to sell this place, for he does not say much.”

“Dear me, I must go,” Marianna exclaimed, quite startled when she heard the sound of a bell from the village below. “I have to go up to the baths, and I must not get back too late, because my husband and the children don’t like to be kept waiting for supper. Where did old Lesa’s housekeeper go?”

“She was his cousin and died a short time after him,” Magdalene informed her. “She had been with him fifty years and was well past seventy, so she could not very well have started on anything new. Look, there they come towards us across the meadow. Now you can see for yourself Lesa’s wife and her dressed-up children; just wait till she comes.”

Marianna needed no further urging for she was curious to see the people they had been discussing.

They were coming close, and one could see that the children had a great deal to tell their mother. They talked to her steadily so that one might have thought the woman could not possibly see or hear anything else. As soon, however, as she reached the house where the two women had withdrawn a little into the open doorway, she greeted them pleasantly. The boy immediately pulled off his cap and the girl called out “Good-day” with a ringing voice. When they had gone a few steps further, their lively conversation began anew.

“I must say they look nice,” said Marianna, gazing after the group with visible satisfaction. “I see no pride there, Magdalene, but neatness and cleanliness in the children as well as in the mother. Everything looks well on her and I wonder how she does it. She just wore what we do, only it looks better on her. Didn’t the boy’s black curls tumble out from his cap in a nice way! And I like the way the little one with the snub nose has her brown hair braided about her head. She looks as bright and happy as a little bird.”

“What else have you to say?” retorted Magdalene, slightly annoyed.

“You are right; I should do better to go my way instead of idly talking,” said Marianna, getting ready to leave. “It does one good to see people who teach their children good manners and keep them as if they meant to make them into something decent. There are too many of the other kind, and one often wonders if it is possible to raise children to anything good. That woman has given me a mind to imitate her as far as I can, for I’d like my children to look as nice and speak as politely as hers. I must go now. Do not take amiss anything I said. Good-bye, Magdalene.”

Marianna set out now and hurried along towards the height. Mrs. Lesa in the meantime climbed up the mountain slope with her children. They kept on talking steadily, sometimes the boy alone or the girl, and sometimes both at once.

“Just think, mother,” the boy informed her, “the child is hardly any bigger than Stefeli. When we passed Mrs. Troll’s house yesterday evening we first saw her standing before the door, then she ran into the house and suddenly we heard the most beautiful music through the open window. I asked the brother who had stayed outside with a book what it was and he said, ‘Alida is playing the piano.’ Imagine, such a young child! I should have loved to listen a while, but I was afraid to, because Stefeli said that it was late and we had to go home.”“And so it was,” Stefeli affirmed. “I should have loved to stay, too, but we had to go home. Don’t you remember, father was already at table when we came? I found out that the boy’s name is Hugo and that the crooked lady lives with them, because I heard Alida say to her brother, ‘I simply have to go in now, otherwise Fraulein will fetch me in and everything will go crooked.’”

“No, no, Stefeli, it was not meant that way,” said the mother. “I don’t think the lady is crooked. The idea probably was that things would go crooked with Alida if she did not obey. Are not the children’s parents with them?”

“No I don’t think so, but I am not sure. What do you think, Vinzi?” asked Stefeli, turning toward her brother.

He gave no answer.

“What makes you stare into the distance, Vinzi, and why don’t you answer?” now asked the mother.

“Listen, mother, listen!” Vinzi replied in a low voice. “Can you hear those beautiful sounds?”

The mother stood still. The wind was wafting up the sounds of an evening bell from the valley, which, as they reached the heights, faded away only to rise more loudly from far below. The wind must have come straight from that direction, for one could hear them very plainly. Now the tones had died away.

The mother’s glance rested on the boy with a mingled look of anxiety and surprise, while he was lost in listening. She remained quiet a while longer for Vinzi had not yet moved. He still seemed to listen eagerly to something he heard from far away, despite the fact that no more sounds reached her ear.

“Vinzi, can you hear us again now?” Stefeli asked, not in the least surprised at her brother’s ways.

“Yes,” he responded as if awakening from a dream.

“Is the lady who lives with Alida and Hugo really crooked?” asked Stefeli, for she was anxious to have that question cleared up.

“Yes, perhaps,” the brother replied with a slightly abstracted air.

But Stefeli did not tolerate such uncertainty.

“If she is not crooked, she is straight, but you must not say perhaps,” she exclaimed, a little angry. “We can easily go down right away to Mrs. Troll’s house, can’t we, mother, and then we’ll find out what the lady is like.”“No,” replied the mother, “we shall certainly not go back to the house on account of that. It is, however, time to turn back, otherwise father will get home sooner than we do and that must not happen. We had better return the way we came, it is the shortest way. But, Stefeli, you must not think that we’ll stop at Mrs. Troll’s house till we see those people.”

“They may be sitting in front of the house,” said Stefeli, holding fast to her intention.

As the mother turned back the little girl ran ahead; she wanted to see the house as soon as possible in order to discover anybody who might be sitting there. The question they had been discussing was not however the only thing on her mind. Stefeli longed most of all to see the two strange children who had moved into the house and whom she had seen the evening before.

Vinzi quietly wandered along at his mother’s side. He was not talkative any longer, but his mother was well accustomed to these changes in her boy.

“Tell me, Vinzi,” she asked now, “why did you keep on listening after the sound of the evening bells had died away?”

“I could still hear them,” Vinzi answered. “I suddenly heard such a wonderful song, which came down from the hills; the black fir trees seemed to join in with a deep bass and through it all the bells were tinkling their sparkling melody. Oh, it was beautiful! If only I could repeat it!”

“Wasn’t it a song you have heard before?” the mother asked sympathetically, seeking to understand. “If you sang me part of it I might find out which song you mean and tell you the words of it.”

“No, no,” Vinzi remonstrated, “it is no song I ever heard. The melodies were all entirely new. I still hear them but can’t repeat them.”

Meditating deeply the mother remained silent, for she could not understand what Vinzi meant. She herself had always found much pleasure in music and singing. She had taught her children to sing as soon as they were able to talk, and her boy had always enjoyed their daily evening song.

“Come, Vinzi,” she said at last, “let us sing a song now; then we’ll both feel happy again. Which one do you want to sing?”

“I don’t know, mother; if only I could sing the tune I hear,” he answered.“I suppose you have some music running in your head. Sing out and you can’t help enjoying it,” said the mother, starting up a song Vinzi knew well.

At first he hesitated, but soon the well-known melody carried him along. His clear, sure voice joining hers, they finished the song before they reached Mrs. Troll’s cottage. Stefeli suddenly leaped forward from behind a tree, from which hidden spot she had watched the two children who were both sitting in front of the house with a book. It had not escaped Stefeli that Alida did not look much at her book and was constantly turning her head from side to side to see what might be going on. Stefeli was dreadfully anxious to run over to Alida and start a friendship with her. But suddenly the governess, who was not crooked at all, but on the contrary very stiff and straight, came out of the house. This intimidated Stefeli so much she hid further and further behind the tree in order not to be discovered. Stefeli told her mother and brother of these things and was glad to have them by her side when passing the house, because the governess was still sitting there. When closer, all four children eagerly examined each other, for they were very much interested.

“They are the same ones we saw yesterday,” Alida said with half-raised voice. “I think I’ll go over and make their acquaintance.”

“Indeed you won’t Alida! We don’t even know who they are,” quickly replied the governess.

Despite the fact that the words had been spoken under her breath, those who were passing had been able to hear them.

“She doesn’t want Alida to talk with us, did you hear it, mother?” said Stefeli when they had gone a little further.

“Yes, I did,” the mother replied. “It is lucky that you didn’t run over to them. You must never do it, Stefeli; do you hear?”

“Yes, but then we’ll never meet and Alida wanted to so much,” Stefeli said rebelliously.

“You see, Stefeli, the governess probably has charge of the children’s education and is responsible for what they do and with whom they play. They might hear and learn from others all kinds of things that they shouldn’t do,” the mother explained. “Maybe Alida is a little like you, Stefeli, and likes to stick her little nose into every opening and look through every hole in a hedge. That is probably why the governess has to watch her and choose her friends very carefully.”

This made Stefeli more eager than ever to meet Alida and be her friend.

“I see father over there,” said Vinzi. “We ought to hurry if we want to get home at the same time as he does.”

This was the mother’s intention, and, walking fast, they joined the father not far from the house. Soon afterwards the little family sat down to supper in their comfortable room.

The meal passed very quietly because the children knew that they had to be silent, and the parents themselves said little. As soon as the children had finished, Vinzi asked, “Can we go out?” As the request was readily granted, they hurried over to the barn, where many delightful corners could be found for playing hide and seek.

It was a bright, warm June evening. Vinzenz Lesa had leisurely risen from the table, and going out he lit his pipe and settled himself on the bench before the house. His wife soon afterwards came out and sat down, too. Now he grew talkative and told her of a visit he had made to an acquaintance of his in the valley whose meadows, fields and cattle he had examined. He had compared his own property with what he saw, and when he had thoroughly looked everything over he could not help saying to himself, “Vinzenz Lesa, you are blessed with a fine property.”

“Yes, we certainly ought to be grateful and I am sure we are,” said his wife.

“Yes, it is true,” he continued, “but whenever I am very happy about it and begin to plan how to improve and develop the farm it always seems as if some one were throwing an obstacle before my feet and keeping me from going further. I mean Vinzi. For whom should I do all of it if not for him, and what kind of a boy is he? He has no eyes in his head and shows not the slightest pleasure or interest in taking to pasture the most beautiful cows that can be found far and wide in the whole neighborhood. If I say to him, ‘Just look what wonderful fodder is in this meadow!’ he says ‘yes’ and stares into the distance so one can see that he has neither listened nor really looked at the meadow he is standing in. I am afraid there is something wrong with him.”

“No, no, Vinzenz, you must not say that,” his wife interrupted eagerly. “If Vinzi does not always listen and has his thoughts elsewhere and does not show the real pleasure he should have in farming, he has never done anything wrong. You must not say that.”

“I don’t say it,” the man went on, “but what is wrong is wrong, and when a boy has no feeling for such meadows, fields and cows as we own, and everything connected with a farm, something must be wrong. But I am sure I don’t know how to help it.”

“He may yet change; just think how young he is!” said the wife comfortingly, though her secret anxiety about the boy had grown again that day during her stroll. She knew well enough that there was something about the boy difficult to understand and she also realized that his thoughts never were on the objects before him. Deeming it wise to change the subject, she talked about seeing the strangers who had taken the upstairs rooms at Mrs. Troll’s cottage for the summer. She told him that the children had looked so nice that she would not mind taking them into her own home. This might easily be managed in their big house, where a few nice rooms could be fitted up for that purpose.

“Well, what on earth will you say next, and can’t we even have peace in our own house?” said the man, half frightened, half angry. “Why should we take other people’s children into our house when we have children of our own?”

“If they are as nice as those we saw, and as well brought up, ours could only learn good things from them,” answered the woman. “We all like to see our children clean and well-behaved rather than tumbling about like little pigs and using rough words.”

“Oh, well, all children have bad manners, and when they get too bad one can let them know. I know quite well what you are aiming at, but you might just as well give it up because there is no use,” the farmer said. “I shall not tolerate strangers in the house. I mean to live by myself and I absolutely forbid the children to have anything to do with those city folks. Don’t let them go over there or our girl will soon become as spoilt as the boy. I am glad to say she is still different from him. She runs after the cows and strokes them like friends and the young cattle run after her, eat from her hand and rub their heads against her like comrades. If one says anything, the child pays attention and minds her business and uses her own eyes besides. She knows exactly what is lacking in the barn or stable and knows how everything should be. But the boy neither sees nor knows anything. It would be quite different if I could change those two around, make the girl into the boy, and the boy into the girl. But as long as things have to be as they are, I have no inclination to have her changed, too.”

“The way you talk, Vinzenz, one might think you consider it a sickness to be well brought up,” the woman replied calmly. “But you need have no fears; a governess is looking after those children who is going to see to it that hers don’t come near ours. It is late, we had better go in now.”

At the same time she called to the children to sing their daily evening song. As soon as they arrived the mother began, and both joined in with clear, sure voices. They knew the song well and each apparently had a good ear for music. Even as little children they had been able to repeat the mother’s songs correctly. As the beautiful melody was resounding through the calm, peaceful evening air, father Vinzenz regained his usual composure, which had been so disturbed that day by anxious thoughts and fears.