When she left the cottage, she had asked the woman if she should not send a doctor to her; but the answer was that the best medicine would be her own return.  The poor mother had been constantly prevented from getting well by trying to work before she was strong enough, and yet there was so much to be done that it was hard for her to keep her bed.  If she could lie still for one week only, she would be well again.

So Elsli had decided that she could not help going again, and she was glad to go.  It was a real pleasure to her to feel that she could be of use, that some one really needed her.

The next afternoon Elsli did not wait a moment on the seat by the river.  As soon as the children had scattered to their different amusements she started down to the lindens, and she did not stop till she reached the little house among the willows.  All four children were standing in the door-way awaiting her.  They cried out with joy when they espied her, and ran to meet her, and when she took little Lenchen up in her arms, the child almost choked her in her close embrace.  The boys too were so glad to see her, and pressed so near her side, that she began to feel as if she were surrounded by a tenderness and love such as she had never before received; the poor, lonely little girl!

The mother’s welcome was warm, and the grandfather raised both arms in the air and cried out:—­

“God be praised!  I had begun to think that there was no chance for to-day!”

He asked her to help him go directly out into the sun; for it was pleasant and warm outside, but within he sat chilly all day long.  It was no easy task, for the old man was heavy, and leaned upon her so that she could scarcely stand under his weight, but at last they struggled out to where the sun shone pleasantly on the water, and gilded the trunks of the old willows with his beams.  Here the old man sat down, and asked Elsli to sit by him.  She did so, and he went on talking.

“Yes,” he said, “that is the same old Rhine!  How I have always loved it!  But it will soon be all over with me; I shall not be long here to see it; I must go, and where?  But it’s foolish to talk this way to you; you are too young to understand.  Your life is just beginning.  Are you not happy, and glad to think that you can stay here by this beautiful water for a long, long time to come?”

“I don’t think of that when I look at the river,” said Elsli.  “I think of the beautiful stream that flows through Paradise, and of the happiness of those who live there.”

“What do you say!  How can you know anything about that?” said the old man, looking at Elsli in amazement.

“I know what is said about it in a beautiful song; I have known it a long time.  One of my friends taught it to me, and she has gone there already.  Shall I repeat it to you?”

The old man nodded assent, and Elsli was glad to repeat the song again to some one who must be interested to hear it, since he was so soon going there himself, he said.  She began directly, and, as the old man listened with great attention, she kept on to the end.  He shook his head several times during the recitation, and, when it was finished, he said:—­