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BESIDE THE ILLER-STREAM
It was terrible for my poor child to lose her at the tender age of three. Please bring a good friend with you, so that you won’t suffer from solitude in this lonely place.
Please gladden me soon by your arrival, and oblige
Your sincere cousin,
Frederick Hellmut.
That same evening, when Director Hellmut was sitting in the living room with his daughter, he spoke of his hope that a cousin of his, Miss Kitty Dorner, would come to stay in Iller-Stream while he was on his trip to Vienna. He also told Cornelli to be glad of this prospect.
After a few days came the following answer:
B——, The 4th of May, 18—.
My Dear Cousin:
To oblige you I shall spend the summer at your house. I have already planned everything and I have asked my friend Miss Grideelen to accompany me. I am very grateful that you realize how monotonous it would have been for me to stay alone in your house all summer. You do not need to have such disturbing thoughts about your daughter’s education. No time has yet been lost, for these small beings do not need the best of care at the start. They require that only when they are ripe enough for mental influences. Such small creatures merely vegetate, and I am quite sure Miss Mina was the right person to23
