CHAPTER III

UNEXPECTED EVENTS

THE next day after they had eaten lunch and the cows had settled for their afternoon rest, Vinzi looked again and again at the mountains.

Suddenly jumping up, he said, "It must be two o'clock. Yesterday as I came back the sun stood above the Felsenhorn. That was at three o'clock. In another hour it will be there again."

"Yes, run off quickly, for the sooner you go, the sooner you will be back to tell me all about it," urged Stefeli.

When Vinzi mounted the steps at Mrs. Troll's house, Alida came running to meet him and exclaimed, "You come just at the right time! They are all away and we will be alone. This is the time you should always come. Let us begin at once," she proposed energetically, and took a small sheet of music and began teaching rather hurriedly, for she did not wish to devote much time to the names of the notes.

Vinzi gave close attention and understood quickly, and they soon left the reading of music to study the keys.

To make her teaching more vivid, Alida struck the key each time it was named.

Vinzi was lost in astonishment and asked suddenly, "But how is the music made?"

"It is all printed in the book; we read it there and play it," explained Alida.

"But someone made it first, didn't they?" asked Vinzi timidly. "Don't you think if one only knew how, one could write down all the tunes one hears?"

"That's not necessary for there are plenty of pieces of music already," said Alida with a sigh as she glanced at the big book of exercises.

Vinzi also looked at the open book, but he gazed at it as if it were a marvel.

"Now I'll play a short piece," continued Alida. "It is an easy one and you can soon learn it."

Vinzi listened and his eyes glowed with happiness.

As she finished the Black Forest clock struck three and jumping down from the stool she announced, "Now the lesson is over. Come again tomorrow," and Vinzi held out his hand in farewell and then ran off.

So matters continued for three days more. Vinzi was such an apt pupil that his teacher was amazed at his progress. He rejoiced that he was sent to the pasture these days and not required to help his father in the stable and barn as sometimes happened, for now his thoughts were so entirely filled with his study of music that often he did not hear what was said to him.

On the few occasions when his father needed him for little tasks, he would send him away with a shake of the head, saying, "Where is your head, boy?"

The afternoon for the fourth lesson had come and he was so happy that he took two of the steps at a time and was half way up when a harsh voice called out to him, "Hey, what's the matter? You bold boy, come down at once!"

"I want to go up to Alida," explained Vinzi.

"To Alida? You know no Alida and she does not know you," Mrs. Troll shouted savagely, for it was she who stood at the bottom of the stairs. "Come down this moment or I'll fetch you in a way you will not like."

Vinzi obeyed, but as he descended, he called out with all his might, "Alida, I cannot come, but you know I was here."

"What's this you are calling out?" said Mrs. Troll roughly. "I see you want to fool me and make me believe you know the little girl upstairs whose name you have happened to hear. There is the door!"

But Alida had heard the voices and now came running down the stairs to say in a superior manner, "Why are you sending Vinzi away? He wishes to see me."

"Ah, the matter was arranged then!" exclaimed Mrs. Troll, using quite a different tone. "Did Miss Landrat know he was coming?"

"No, but I knew it," answered Alida haughtily.

"Then we will tell Miss Landrat and everything will be settled," said Mrs. Troll scornfully. "The best thing for him to do now is to go where he belongs."

That was Vinzi's opinion too, and shaking hands with Alida, he went sadly away, for he thought all was over. But Alida was very angry that the woman had dared to send her friend away, and she called out furiously, "I'll tell my papa everything, and he'll not let Vinzi be treated so!" and flew up the stairs.

As soon as Mrs. Troll saw the governess returning with Hugo, she reported what had happened in her absence.

"It is certain the boy has been here before," she concluded in excitement.

"His coming today had been arranged, for he shot up the stairs as though it were his home, and Alida was waiting for him."

Miss Landrat was horrified. "How could she be so bold? To think of making an acquaintance with a cowherd of unknown family!"

"Perhaps it is the boy who found the red scarf," suggested Hugo who had been listening quietly. "We saw him Sunday with his sister. He looked like a nice boy, and it surely would be all right for Alida to know him."

Miss Landrat said no more, but turned and went upstairs, Hugo following.

Throwing open the door, she asked, "Who was with you while we were away?"

"Vinzi," answered Alida.

"If that is the name of the boy who was here, I would like to know what business brought him," the governess continued in growing anger.

"He came for a piano lesson," was the reply.

"Do you think I am joking with you, Alida?" said Miss Landrat, now quite furious.

"No, I do not think so."

"Then answer me sensibly!" she exclaimed. "How did you come to ask him here? What did he want?"

"A piano lesson," as if it were a matter of course.

"But, tell me, Alida, who was to give him the lesson?" interrupted Hugo.

"I was," she answered earnestly.

Then Hugo burst out laughing and asked, "Didn't the idea of your giving him a piano lesson make him laugh?"

"No, he was very attentive," said his sister.

"That is enough!" exclaimed the governess angrily. "Ask no more questions, Hugo. Alida must not think it funny to invent such stuff. I shall write her father immediately, but the first thing—" and she hurried out of the room.

Hugo now began his questions again and to his great amusement heard that several lessons had already been given, that Vinzi had learned a great deal, and that Alida wanted to have her father know how Mrs. Troll had treated him.

Meanwhile Miss Landrat went to Mrs. Troll and instructed her to forbid Vinzi entering her house if he ever came near again.

That same evening Vinzi's father passed Mrs. Troll's house as he cut across the fields to his home, and she caught sight of him as she stood in her garden.

"Hey there, neighbor Lesa!" she called. "I would like to tell you something." And when he came up, she added, "I think it would be better for your boy if he had something to do instead of running into other people's houses for mischief."

"What do you mean, neighbor?"

"I mean that your boy has been here a number of afternoons to visit the little girl upstairs, but her governess wants no more of it, and he should stay where he belongs."

"I'll see he does. Good-bye!" and Mr. Lesa went on his way.

It was just supper time as he entered his house, and both children were already at the table, because the mother liked to have everything ready on her husband's arrival. As the meal progressed and he spoke no word, she looked inquiringly at him, but since it was evident he wished to be let alone, as soon as the supper tasks were finished, she sent the children off to bed.

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Directly he was alone with his wife, he said, "Sit down, for I have something to talk over with you," and when she had done so, he continued savagely, "I've had enough of the boy. He not only does nothing, understands nothing, and is good for nothing on the farm, but now he brings shame and disgrace on us. This is the end; he must go away."

"Oh, what has Vinzi done?" she asked in anxiety. "It is not his way to be mischievous. Vinzenz, tell me, has he done something wicked?"

"Ask him yourself what he has been doing. I've had enough of it. To think of a neighbor telling me it would be better for my boy to be doing something else than running into other people's houses and carrying on! Things have been going on long enough; I'm through. He must go. Away with him!" And in his agitation, he paced the room.

As he seated himself again, his wife said, "I cannot understand what has happened. Vinzi is not the kind to go into people's houses without being invited. There must have been a reason. Let us talk with the boy before we condemn him; he is sure to tell us the truth. Just think, Vinzenz, what it means to send a twelve-year-old boy away; he is certainly much too young for that."

"I'll not oppose your talking with him," replied her husband, "but I tell you this: he has to go. I have had it in mind for a long time, and it is the only way in which he can be helped. He must go some place where he will have no opportunity for such mischief, where there are very few people, and only those who find pleasure in work. I mean people who stay by themselves and who do not mix with strangers."

"But it would first be necessary to know the people," she interrupted forcibly. "You surely do not mean to say our Vinzi should be turned over to anyone just because he takes pleasure in his farm work?"

"Quietly, quietly! I am coming to that," her husband continued in the same tone. "You know that last fall I was up on the Simplon where my cousin Lorenz Lesa lives. He has a farm up there with a few fine cows. It is a small place but everything is kept in excellent order. I took quite a liking to it, and the boy must go there. He'll come to his senses when he sees how happy and contented other boys are with such a life."

"Is it really possible you are going to send our boy away?" lamented his wife. "And high up into the mountains? It must be dreadfully lonesome up there. I can scarcely imagine how it is. I do not know your cousin or his wife. How will they take to a boy sent to them as a good for nothing, whom his parents could not manage? It is as though our Vinzi had become a criminal and was sent into exile."

"You need not get so wrought up about it, my dear," he began. "I am not doing this to punish him, but to bring him up properly. Cousin Lorenz is a good and just man, and will not ill-treat the boy. And Cousin Josepha is an altogether worthy woman who is rearing three boys it is a pleasure to look upon. I have seen them in the midst of their cows and I never heard such yodeling, such a cracking of whips, such joking. They acted as if they were out for a holiday. Our boy will learn from them, nothing can be better than the farm."

Many anxious questions filled her mind, but she knew she could do nothing more. Vinzi must go; that was settled, and she knew of no other place to send him. She only asked her husband how soon he would go; surely they must ask whether the cousins would take him. Then her husband explained that it had been settled between them the fall before that Vinzi was to go to them for the summer and that in return, one of their sons was to spend a summer in their home. It would do the mountain boy good to see a new place and different ways of working, and the other boys might wake up Vinzi. Mr. Lesa added that he believed a man in the valley was planning to drive his cattle over the mountain and that would be a good opportunity to send Vinzi with him.

The mother went to bed that night with a heavy heart, and at dawn went quietly to Vinzi's room to hear what he had done and to prepare him for what was coming. Vinzi woke to find her sitting on the edge of his bed holding his hand in hers.

"Tell me, Vinzi," she began, "now while we are alone together, what you did yesterday to make your father so angry. Were you in mischief? Tell me everything."

Vinzi thought for a moment, then remembered how angrily Mrs. Troll had sent him away. Perhaps his father had heard about that, so he related the whole incident.

A great load fell from the mother's heart; Vinzi had done no wrong. But she understood very well how the neighbor's words had angered her husband, for Vinzi had caused him much secret worry and vexation. She explained to the lad how he had done wrong not to tell her about the matter, and asked if he had not thought he ought to tell them at home before beginning the lessons. Vinzi said candidly that he had feared his father would not give permission, and as he had such an intense desire to learn something about music, both Stefeli and he had decided the afternoon was a good time for him to leave the pasture, and if nothing happened to the cows his father could not say anything. But his mother told him his silence had been wrong, and now he would have to accept the consequences, which she hoped would be for his good. Then she unfolded his father's plan and told how he hoped Vinzi would learn to enjoy farm work and how she prayed he would return so bright and happy that his father would be pleased with him.

In spite of the care his mother took to tell him the decision to send him away, Vinzi's look of alarm brought tears to her eyes, though she was proud he uttered no word of complaint.

Everything went on as usual that day, and the children spent the hours out in the pasture. Stefeli was accustomed to Vinzi's long silences, even though she could not hear all he seemed to hear.

But today, he went too far, and when the silence grew unbearable she said impetuously, "Do say something, Vinzi! It is just as though you were not here at all."

"Well, I won't be much longer," he answered dolefully, and went on to tell her he was going away, high up into the mountains, to people he did not know.

"When do you have to go?" she asked, oppressed in spite of the impossibility of believing the news. When Vinzi was unable to answer that, she exclaimed with relief, "Oh, then it may be such a long time that it will not happen at all. Let's be happy again, Vinzi."

That evening after the children had gone to bed and the parents were sitting alone, the father said he had gone to town to talk with his friend, but found he had left that morning to drive his cattle over the mountain. But there was nothing unfortunate in that; on the contrary. He had been informed that a young workman from Gondo was returning to that town on Monday and as he would make the way from Brig by foot, would have to put up somewhere over night. That would be better for Vinzi; he would not have to walk all the way. They would stay over night at Berisal, where an innkeeper Mr. Lesa knew would give them good accommodation.

Mrs. Lesa had listened silently, but now she said, "Surely you are not going to turn our boy over to a man we know nothing about except that he is going over the mountain?"

"I looked him up immediately," replied her husband, "and talked everything over with him. I am told he is a good honest man, and believe he is all right. All Vinzi needs is a companion, for at twelve a boy is no longer a little child."

"Young enough to go off alone," the mother sighed. "Must it be on Monday?"

"It is best so," said the husband decisively. "When a thing has to be done, it cannot be undertaken too quickly."

"It is a blessing we can give the boy into the keeping of our Father in Heaven," sighed Mrs. Lesa. "It is my only comfort."

"That is true," he replied, glad to know his wife had some consolation. "Well, now everything is in order," he said after a pause. But in spite of his words he pushed his pipe from one corner of his mouth to the other as though there was something in his mind that was not quite in order. "The boy must be told what is going to happen."

"He knows. I told him early this morning. All you have to do is to tell him when," said the mother.

This was welcome news to her husband. So Vinzi had known all day, and had been quiet about it; there was to be no scene such as he had anticipated with dread.

The next day when the afternoon sun shone down on the bench in front of the house, the father seated himself there according to his Sunday custom and called Vinzi to him.

"You know that you are going up to your cousin on the mountain," he began when the boy was sitting beside him. "It is beautiful up there, and you will like it. I am sending you for your own good, and you must not bring shame on your parents. Your fellow-traveler knows the house where you are to go, and you are expected, though they do not know exactly when you will arrive. Just tell them who you are and that I sent you as I arranged. You leave early tomorrow morning with a man who knows all about the trip you have to make."

Vinzi remained silent, which was as his father wished, and to cheer his son just a little, he launched into a description of the merry life of the young cousins on the mountain.

Meanwhile the mother was packing the knapsack which Vinzi would carry and Stefeli followed her about. She had been told what was to happen the next morning and knowing there was no chance to ask questions of her father while he was talking to Vinzi, hoped she could talk to her mother about it. But the knapsack was packed in silence, supper was served and the mother seemed unable to utter a word. She felt she must not betray her grief and make it any harder for Vinzi, but she really had to say a few words to him, and when he was in bed and his room in darkness, she went to him.

"I am glad you have come, mother," he said immediately. "Do you think my cousin will be angry if I happen to forget about his cows? Stefeli always called me if I was not watching."

"I do not know," answered his mother. "You see I do not know your Cousin Lorenz or Cousin Josepha. But I want to ask you, Vinzi, to do the best you can. If they complain or send you back home, your father could not stand it. Never do anything so you dare not look up to your Father in Heaven. Remember when fearful or lonely that He is always above you, that He sees and hears you. That is the best comfort, Vinzi; do not forget it."

Vinzi readily promised he would remember her words, and with that she left him.

Early the following morning the father accompanied Vinzi down to the station where they were to meet his traveling companion.