hurried footsteps. The door was quickly thrown open and in stepped her
son Sami with a very distressed face. Under his arm he carried a bundle
wrapped up in one of Marietta's aprons. This he laid on the table, threw
himself down and sobbed aloud, with his head in his arms:

"It is all over, mother, all over; Marietta is dead!"

"Oh, for Heaven's sake, what are you saying?" cried his mother in the
greatest horror. "Oh, Sami, is it possible?"

Then she lifted Sami gently and continued in a trembling voice:

"Come, sit down beside me and tell me all about it. Is she really dead?
Oh, when did it happen? How did it come so quickly?"

Sami willingly dropped down on a chair beside his mother. But then he
buried his face in his hands and went on sobbing again.

"Oh, I can't bear it, I must go away, mother, I can't bear it here any
longer, it is all over!"

"Oh, Sami, where would you go?" said his mother, weeping. "We have
already come over the mountains, where would you go from here?"

"I must go across the water, as far as I possibly can, I can't stay here
any longer. I cannot, mother," declared Sami. "I must go across the great
water as far as possible!"

"Oh, not that!" cried Mary Ann. "Don't be so rash! Wait a little, until
you can think more calmly; it will seem different to you."