Make room, Cornelli! I have to fix the vegetables." Cornelli ran to the pantry.
Mina was just building up a splendid pile of cookies and almond rings.
"Don't come rushing in like that, or it will all tumble down," she objected.

"Don't come so near to the table; this plate is all ready and nothing must be missing from it.

I won't have it said that one can see there is no mistress in this house, and that nobody here knows how to set a table." "If you are all so stingy to-day, I won't bother you any more," said Cornelli, and with these words she turned around and marched indignantly out of the house.
That moment, hearing the sound of approaching wheels, and looking down the road through the open place in front of the house, she spied the expected carriage with two ladies sitting in it.
"Matthew, Matthew," she called out, in the direction of the large stable and the barn.

These lay a little distance from the house, and were hidden by trees.
Matthew was the gardener who looked after the horses, and had also to superintend all the work done by his assistant in the garden and the stable.

He was Cornelli's special friend, whom she had known ever since she could remember, for he had served her grandfather.
He now came from the stable and mysteriously beckoned to her: "Come here quickly, run fast!" he said.