CORNELLI
joy. To see the wonderful spectacle from near by, she came down to the garden.
The Director also left the house, but he went another way. Not long afterwards he went up Martha’s little stairway to the porch where the old woman sat on her stool mending.
“Oh, Mr. Hellmut!” she called out in her surprise. Opening the door she led her visitor into her room, for the porch was very narrow.
Mr. Hellmut entered.
“Martha,” he said in a business-like tone, “I have spoiled your business by taking your boarder away from you forever. That requires a compensation, and so I have just bought your little cottage from the farmer over there, besides the little piece of ground in front of it. Now you will have more room for your carnations, and if you manage well, you can surely have some pleasant days from the rent which you save. Are you satisfied?”
“Oh, Mr. Hellmut! Is this little house really my own, now, and will I really have a garden besides? Oh, Mr. Hellmut!”
But her benefactor would not let her say
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