She was particularly timid with him, because he was so very
quiet, and always looked at her kindly when they met, but never spoke;
or, at least, never said more than a kindly word in passing. And she had
never succeeded in catching even a glimpse of him, no matter how long
she stood by the hedge and looked over.
May passed, and June. The long days of summer came, with more and more
work to be done in the fields, and work that was ever hotter and hotter.
Wiseli felt this keenly when her cousin Gotti called her out to help
with the haymaking, and the heavy rake was so hard for her to lift; or,
worse still, to handle the clumsy wooden fork when the hay needed
spreading in the sun to dry.
She often was obliged to work in the fields, and in the evening was so
tired out that she could scarcely move her poor little arms. She never
fretted, however, for she thought it was necessary and right; but often,
when she was still for a moment in the evening, it hurt her sadly to
hear Cheppi call out, "You ought to do your examples in arithmetic now,
as I do. You are never doing any thing out of school, and in the classes
you are always behind the others."
She would have liked to study and get on at her lessons, if she could
only have gone regularly to school, and been able to keep up with the
class. She was well aware that she was far behind her schoolmates; but
what could she do, when she only got a little here and there, and all
was confused for her, and she never knew what lessons were given out for
the out-of-school studies.
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