he drawing-room, they were astonished to see no country child,
but a singularly beautiful, graceful girl, of refined appearance and
lady-like manners. Her slight shyness soon vanished through Ada's
unaffected pleasant ways, and erelong the two girls were talking to each
other with all the frankness of youth, and long ere the hour for the
concert came they were fast friends.

[Illustration: "Come, Frida," she said, "let us play the last passage
together." _See page 61._]

Ada was herself a good pianist, and could play fairly well on the
violin, and she found that Herr Mueller had arranged that she and the
girl from the Forest should perform together.

"Come, Frida," she said, "let us play the last passage together; we must
be sure we have it perfect."

"Oh, how well you play!" she said when they had finished. "Has Herr
Mueller been your only teacher?"

"Latterly he has," was the answer; "but when I was quite little I was
well taught by my father."

"Your father!" said Adeline; "does he play well? He cannot have had many
advantages if he has to work in the woods all day."

"Work in the woods! why, he never did that." Then she added, "Oh! I see
you think Wilhelm Hoerstel is my father; but that is not the case. My own
dear father is dead, and Wilhelm found me left alone in the Black
Forest."

"Found in the Black Forest alone!" said Ada. Here was indeed a romance
to take the fancy of an imaginative, impulsive girl like Adeline
Stanford; and leaving Frida with her story unfinished, she darted off to
her parents to tell them what she had heard. They also were much
interested in her story, for they had been much astonished at the
appearance of the girl from the Forest; and telling Ada that she had
better go back to Frida, they turned to Miss Drechsler and asked her to
tell them all she knew of the child's history.

She did so, mentioning also her brown Bible and the way in which God was
using its words amongst the wood-cutters in the Forest.

* * * * *

The concert was over, but Sir Richard, Lady Stanford, and Miss Drechsler
lingered awhile (after the girls had gone to bed), talking over the
events of the evening.

"How beautifully your young friend played!" said Lady Stanford; "her
musical talent is wonderful, but the girl herself is the greatest wonder
of all. She cannot be the child of common people, she is so like a lady
and so graceful. And, Miss Drechsler, can you tell us how