Then they went over to the
schoolhouse. The grandmother entered first. Rico followed, his fiddle
under his arm. He had not once laid it down since it had come into his
possession.
The teacher lay on his bed, looking very feeble indeed. The lad stepped
to the bedside and looked down at his fiddle and could scarcely speak,
but his eyes sparkled so brightly that the good man had no difficulty in
understanding him: he cast a pleased look towards the boy, and nodded at
him. Then he beckoned the grandmother to draw near. Rico moved a little
to one side, and the teacher said with a weak voice, "Grandmother, I
should be very glad if you would say 'Our Father' for me, I feel so very
much troubled."
Just at this moment the prayer-bell sounded. The grandmother folded her
hands and repeated the Lord's Prayer, and Rico also folded his hands.
Every thing was quiet in the room. After a while the grandmother bent
over and closed the old teacher's eyes, for he had passed away. Then she
took Rico by the hand, and went softly home with him.
CHAPTER VIII.
ON THE LAKE OF SILS.
Stineli did not recover herself during the entire week, her joy was so
great; but it seemed as if that week were ten days longer than any
other, for Sunday seemed never to come.
At last it did come, and a golden sun shone over the harvest fields, and
she and Rico went up under the fir-trees, where the sparkling lake lay
spread out at their feet; and the girl's heart was so overflowing with
happiness, that she had to dance about and shout aloud before she seated
herself on the moss, on the very edge of the slope.
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