big drops, glittering like silver, came rushing down all at once out of the blue sky, and everybody fled with cries. The three children, reunited by irresistible forces, met on the verandah. The rain had frightened the young couple into a small summer house. Then suddenly it was all over, as if somebody had snipped it off with scissors. A jovial milky-faced fellow appeared in the hall.
"Come on, the carriage is ready," said he. "Be quick. We have hardly time to reach Bischoffshardt before the bombardment begins. The clouds are piled up on the Dürenburg, all on top of each other as thick as a herd of black bullocks."
Before he left, Gerold expressed his thanks to the kind strangers by making one of the new bows Gesima had taught him in the direction of the summer house, clicking his heels together, and saluting. Then the children hurried through the hall.
"Up on the front seat," begged the boys. The milky-faced man lifted each in turn by the collar and dumped him on the seat, like a puppy. "My name is Seppli," he said, as he took his seat between them.
A window on the upper floor of the house burst open and the tearful face of Marianneli appeared. She seemed to want to call out to them, but she was pulled back into the room and they heard her scream, "I don't want any one else. I won't take any one else."
Seppli grinned expansively. "There's the devil to pay! But I know several fellows in the canton who would be glad enough to console her, and I'd be the first! All ready? Can we start?"
The brown horse had begun to prance with impatience but there came a plaintive whimper from behind. Gesima couldn't
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