little invalid hoisted himself up like a flash, calling out at the top
of his lungs, "Mother, I must have Stineli; Stineli must come; only with
Stineli can one feel perfectly well, and nowhere else."

His mother came at his call; and as she had often listened to Rico's
stories about Stineli and her brothers and sisters with great interest,
she knew at once what they were talking about, and replied, "Yes, yes;
it would suit me very well. I could find great use for Stineli for you,
and for myself, if I only had her here."

But such an indefinite way of talking did not suit Silvio in the least,
for he was interested, heart and soul, in the matter.

"You can have her at once," he cried out. "Rico knows where she is: he
must go to fetch her. I want her every day, and always. To-morrow Rico
must go to get her: he knows where."

Now that his mother saw that the little fellow had thought the whole
thing out, and was really in serious earnest about it, she tried to turn
his attention away, and to introduce other thoughts into his mind, for
she had often heard the story of the incredible adventures Rico passed
through on his journey over the mountains, and of the wonder of his
having survived and come down safely, and that the mountaineer were a
fearful and wild people. She was, therefore, fully persuaded that nobody
could bring a girl away, and certainly not a tender little lad like
Rico. He might meet a sad fate, and be lost altogether, if he attempted
any thing of the kind; and then she would be responsible for it all. She
would not run that risk,--she thought she had enough to bear already.

So she placed all the impossibility of the affair before Silvio's eyes,