" And the child sat holding her mother's hand tightly until long
after noontime. About that time her cousin Gotti entered the room,
looked about him a little, and then called for the neighbor. "You must
arrange things here a little,--you know what I mean," he said,--"so
that things will be ready for the removal. Then carry the keys away
with you, so that nothing will be taken." He then turned to Wiseli and
said, "Where are your clothes, little one? Get them together and tie
them up in a bundle, and we will go away."
"Where shall we go?" asked the child.
"We will go home to the beech grove. You can stay there with us, for you
have nobody else in the world now but your cousin Gotti."
At these words, Wiseli felt herself stiff with fear. Go to the beech
grove, and live with them there,--was that her fate? She had always had
the greatest fear of the wife of her cousin Gotti, and always stood a
long time before the door, when she was sent there with a message,
before she could summon courage to enter. The eldest son, Cheppi,--that
rough fellow,--lived there, and Hannes and Rudi; and they threw stones
at all the children. Was that to be her home?
Fear caused the child to turn pale and immovable.
"You must not be frightened, my child," said her cousin Gotti, in a
kindly tone. "There are more people in our house than there are here,
but it is all the more lively for that.
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