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 “She nursed the mistress of this house in her last illness. She is a very good woman and always looks neat and clean. Our master likes her well.”

“Now I have really found out something! You must learn to give proper answers, Cornelli, do you hear?” said the cousin. “You are like a wild hare which does everything in leaps and bounds. You can go to see the woman after finishing your work for your teacher. I am sure you must have some to do for to-morrow.”

Cornelli assented to this, and as soon as the ladies had left the room to retire to their bedrooms for the hottest hours of the day, she sat down at her little table in the corner. Here she wrote down a page with lightning speed, then taking up her book she read her lesson over and over again till she knew it by heart. Soon she was finished, and flinging the books into the drawer, she ran out of the house.

“Oh, Martha, I wish you knew how terrible it is at home now since Papa has gone,” called Cornelli to her old friend, before she had even reached the top of the stairs. “I just wish