"Are you sure?" asked Elsli, with sparkling eyes.

"Yes, yes, I am sure; and now listen. Tell Mrs. Clarissa that Fani is in
Basel, and that you want to see him. I know she will take you, she is so
kind. Then you give him this roll, and tell him that I sent it, and that
I hope he is well. Here is his address."

"Oh, how glad I am!" cried Elsli. "Do you really think I ought to ask
Mrs. Clarissa to take me to Fani?"

"Of course you ought; only think how pleased he will be to see you.
Promise, Elsli,--" but before Elsli could answer, Oscar came round the
corner; and, spying Elsli, he seized her by the hand, exclaiming:--

"I've been hunting for you everywhere; and I've found you at last! Come
with me; I want to tell you something!"

He drew her away to the other side of the house, and stopped by the
hazelnut hedge; Emma did not follow them, for fear of vexing her
brother. She had sent to Fani, by Elsli, all the white paper and all the
pencils that she could collect in the children's room at home, and she
thought it but prudent to keep out of Oscar's way.

"Now, attend to what I am going to say, Elsli," began Oscar, seriously;
"it is something very important for you to know. You are going to
foreign parts, where you will have no friends; I mean no acquaintances
among people in general. But no doubt there will be some Swiss there,
and you can form a society of our countrymen, that can meet every week,
and talk over all the news from their own country."