on the following day, about the time when frau feland had to take her usual rest, fr?ulein hohlweg came with her big basket to a lovely, shady spot near the house, to spend the pleasant hour knitting and reading. ella sat quietly on her mossy seat, and rita stood in front of her, telling with great enthusiasm about a bush in the woods, with flaming red flowers, which shone far away through the trees. her eyes grew bigger and brighter every moment, for the more she talked about it the more plainly she saw it all before her, and it seemed as if she was already on the path in the midst of the woods.

fr?ulein hohlweg put aside her big basket and said:

"sit down now, rita, and be quiet. i have something lovely to read to you."

but rita was so full of her flowers and the woods, and all the things she saw before her eyes, that the command was forgotten.

"i must go right away to papa. i have so much to tell him!" protested rita, and ran to the house. it was the same thing that happened every day. rita always thought of something very important to tell her papa, when she should have been sitting down. to-day she had something even more urgent than usual. when a long time had passed and the child did not return, fr?ulein hohlweg became uneasy and said:

"go in quickly, ella, and call rita, so that she will not wake mamma. papa must have gone already, for he said at the table that he was going for a long walk."

ella ran in, but did not come back for so long that fr?ulein hohlweg went in too. it was perfectly still in the house. no one was in the living-room, no one in the kitchen! fr?ulein went up the little staircase and softly opened the door of the children's room. no one was there! through the open door she could see into the parents' room. frau feland was lying with closed eyes on her bed; she was alone in the room.

fr?ulein hohlweg came out again. then ella came up from below and told her she had searched for rita in the whole house, in every corner, at last even in the yard back of the wood and in the little room belonging to kaspar's wife, but rita was nowhere to be found.

fr?ulein ran down the stairs to the shed; there she got some information. kaspar's wife was standing inside spreading the straw for the goats. when questioned about little rita, she replied only that she had seen the child come into the house not long before. but where could rita have gone afterwards? fr?ulein hohlweg and ella began to search through the whole house once more, then all around it in every nook and corner. kaspar's wife helped willingly for she saw that fr?ulein felt a real anxiety; but nowhere was there any trace of the child to be seen. kaspar's wife ran over to the neighbor's house, perhaps they had seen rita, but no one was there, the door was closed, everything still. then it came to the woman's mind that martin was making hay to-day, high up on the rocks, and that the whole household had gone with him. she came back with this information. fr?ulein hohlweg was usually of a timid nature, and now she became more and more uneasy.

"oh, if i had only gone after the child right away!" she exclaimed regretfully a hundred times, but this was of no use. what was to be done? where should they look for rita? could she, perhaps, have gone after the people up to the rocks, with the little boy, with whom she had been seen the day before? the more she thought about this the more likely it seemed to her. if only there was someone to send up there immediately, she thought, before her mother had to be told about the matter.

the obliging woman offered to do this and to came back again as soon as possible, but it was a long and toilsome way; it would take more time than one would think from looking up there.

fr?ulein hohlweg promised her a handsome reward if she would only go and prevent frau feland from being frightened, and she was very hopeful that she would surely bring rita back home with her. but the way was farther than fr?ulein had thought, and long before the messenger could return frau feland came down from her room and wished to take a walk with the children. then everything had to be told her.

at the first great shock the mother wanted to go out herself at once, to look for the child and see where she could be, but fr?ulein was so sure that rita must have run off with the little boy that frau feland calmed herself and decided to wait for the return of kaspar's wife. she really didn't have a peaceful moment. she ran from one window to the other then back to the door, and then around the house. the time seemed so long to her,—so long!

at last, after two weary hours, the woman came back, panting and glowing from the heat, but—she came alone, without rita. martin had gone up to the rocks, with his whole family early in the morning, to make hay, and had remained there. no one had seen the child since the day before. moreover, along the way the woman had asked for her, here and there, but no trace of her was to be found.

then the mother broke out into loud lament.

"oh, if only my husband were here!" she cried. "where shall we find people to hunt for the child? what must we do? kind woman, what can we do?"

the woman offered to run around in the huts and summon the people to start out to search before it should be dark; they would have to go up along by the forest-brook, and into the forest.

"if only they hadn't all gone up to make hay," she complained, but she started off immediately. ella, who now realized what might have happened to rita, began to weep bitterly.

"oh, mamma, if rita has fallen into the brook, which roars so frightfully, or if she went into the woods and can't find her way!" she sobbed. "oh, let us go right into the woods. she will surely be so frightened!"

these were also the mother's thoughts. she took ella by the hand and hurried up to the woods, faster than she was able to go at ordinary times. fr?ulein hohlweg ran behind her, for she hardly knew what she was doing she was so anxious.

one hour after another passed. women and children ran, searching everywhere, but no trace of rita was discovered. night came on.

frau feland, all the while holding fast to ella's hand, had been running in every direction through thickets and underbrush, until now she could run no more. she returned with ella to the house and fell, completely exhausted. fr?ulein hohlweg, who had followed in her footsteps, stood breathless, looking as if she too were near collapsing. ella sat still, weeping, beside her mother.

then herr feland came back. when he learned in a few words from his wife what had happened, he first of all carried her up to her sleeping-room and told her to remain perfectly quiet, that he would do everything to find the child. fr?ulein hohlweg and ella, he said, must go to bed. as soon as he had found rita he would let them know.

then herr feland went over to martin's cottage, for his first thought, too, was that rita had gone away with her new friend of the day before. martin was just coming out of the door. he had already heard that a child was lost and was just coming to try to help. to herr feland's questions he replied how, since early in the morning, he had been away with his wife and children, and that the little girl had not been seen at all by them.

herr feland now thought rita must have gone away alone, either as she had proposed to him, somewhere up on the rocks, or deep into the forest. so he ordered martin immediately to get together all the men in the neighborhood, provide them with good lanterns, and have some of them climb up to the high cliffs and hunt around everywhere and others go through the woods in every direction. these last herr feland himself would join, and he was determined to continue the search until the child was found.

so the men started off into the night, and frau feland heard one hour after another strike on the old wall-clock downstairs, but the night passed away more slowly, more lingeringly than any she had watched through in all her life. she did not close her eyes. at every distant sound that fell on her ear she jumped up and said to herself:

"now they are coming and bringing the child! but will she be alive or dead?"

but they did not come. from time to time ella would come tip-toeing in softly. she wanted to see if her mother was asleep, for through her anxiety she could find no rest either. when she found that her mother also was awake, she would ask again and again:

"oh, mamma, shall we not pray once more that the dear lord will take care of rita and bring her home again soon?"

her mother assented willingly each time, and then ella would kneel down beside her bed and pray and beseech the dear lord to protect rita from all harm and to show her papa the way to her. then ella would go back quietly to her room.

the night passed. the beaming sun was already rising behind the mountains and lighted up the woods and meadows, as if it had great joy to announce.

frau feland sank back exhausted on her pillow. finally weariness overcame trouble and care. a quiet slumber snatched the anxious mother away for a short time from torturing suspense and waiting.