"Forest-master, you say? I am not that but only one of the keepers."

"We would do you honor, which is our reason for calling you by that
name."

"But you do not honor one by giving him a higher title than he is
entitled to. Instead it humiliates him, or he thinks you are making
sport of him."

"We did not mean it in either way, Mr. Hartman."

"I believe you, so we will not say anything more about it."

"Then, good-bye, Mr. Forester, and we thank you and your wife for your
goodness to us. We will long remember that coffee. Tell the boys
good-bye for us. They were afraid of us, but we meant them no harm.
Good-bye! Good-bye!"

The forester's wife now prepared breakfast for her husband and herself.
The blazing fire upon the hearth was doing its duty in bringing the
boys' clothing to the state desired while they were sleeping the sleep
of tired boyhood. They did not waken until near noon, but this would
allow them to reach home before night; and they enjoyed their first
meal of the day, arrayed in their dry and neatly-brushed garments, and
refreshed by bathing their hands, faces and feet in the brook.

The day was bright and delightfully cool after the rain, and in fine
spirits they bade the forest-keeper's wife good-bye as they set out for
home.

"Their parents will be rejoiced to see them," she said to herself as she
watched them out of sight, "for no doubt they have felt somewhat anxious
about them, for they are young to be allowed to take a journey. How
helpless are our children! A young chicken will search for food while
part of its shell is clinging to it, and the young of animals are upon
their feet and helping themselves in a few weeks; but not so our
children. They must be under the tender care of father and mother until
past childhood, and it is best so, for it binds parents and children in
the ties of family life and love. May the dear boys reach home safely
and find all well."

The triplets had in the meantime nearly reached the main road to which
they had been carefully directed by Mrs. Hartman, her husband having
gone to his duties in the forest hours before. They were singing one of
their school songs, when it occurred to Paul that something had been
omitted.

"Oh, boys," he said, "we have forgotten to thank the lady for her
goodness to us. She dried and brushed our clothes and gave us a good
breakfast, and tried to restore our hats to good shape after they had
been soaked with rain, and we came