Toni was like one enchanted and hardly breathed.
When his mother finished speaking, the wood-carver said it seemed to him
as if she thought the affair would half go of itself, but it was not so.
If a thing was to be done right, it cost much time and patience to learn.
He was not averse to taking the boy, for it seemed to him that he had a
desire to learn; but she would have to pay for his board for a couple of
months in Frutigen, besides paying for his instruction, which would be as
much as his board, and she herself must know whether she could spend so
much on the boy. On the other hand he would promise that the boy would be
taught right, and she could see there in the glass case, what he could
learn to do.
At first Elsbeth was so disappointed and dismayed she was unable to speak
a word. Now she knew that it would be absolutely impossible for her to
fulfill her boy's greatest wish. The necessary expense of board and
instruction was beyond anything that she could manage, so much so that it
was quite out of the question. It was all over with Toni's plans.
She rose and thanked the wood-carver for his willingness to take the boy,
but she would have to decline his offer. Then she beckoned to Toni, whose
eyes were still so fastened to the glass case that he paid no attention.
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