CORNELLI
attend to and Mux is still a very useless little fellow. Could you not come here and pay me a little visit? I should love to see you and should enjoy hearing all about Iller-Stream. You could tell me all about good old Martha, whom I love nearly as much as a grandmother, about your little kid and Matthew, the horses and everything else, and especially about yourself. I always had such a good time with you that I should be terribly pleased if you came to visit me. Please come very, very soon!
Your faithful friend,
When Cornelli was folding up the letter again, her father said: “Can I read it, too?”
Cornelli promptly handed him her letter.
“What friend is this that wants you to come to visit him?” the father asked with astonishment. “I expect you to cry immediately, though, for you might have to go to town.”
“Oh, no, Papa, I really would love to see him,” said Cornelli. “It is Dino, who stayed with Martha this summer.”
The father put down his spoon from pure surprise and looked wonderingly at his daughter.
“How strange you are, Cornelli!” he said
182
