Page:Cornelli (IA cornelli00spyr 0).pdf/179

 say if she could see her child?” Mr. Hellmut threw himself down in his chair and put his hands before his face.

“Please calm yourself, Frederick! It is not your fault at all, for you can’t fight against her disposition,” the cousin said soothingly. “We have thought of a way of helping the child. You might send her to a boarding school in town where there are a great many children and young girls. Children often help each other by rubbing up against one another and by noticing each other’s faults and mistakes.”

“Do you think that this might help Cornelli?” asked the father doubtfully. “Cornelli is not used to being rubbed against and laughed at.”

“For that reason it would make a still deeper impression on her,” answered the cousin. “You can believe me when I say that this may be the only means to break her obstinacy, and I am not sure that even this will help. If such a school can’t break her will, nobody on earth can reform her; you can believe me, Frederick.”

“She is still very young to be sent away from home,” said the father, full of pity. “But