two letters which he had found lying at
the post-office for her. They proved, to Frida's great delight, to be
from her two friends Miss Drechsler and Adeline Stanford.

Miss Drechsler's ran thus:--

"DEAR FRIDA,--I have been thinking very specially of you and
your friends in the Forest, now that the cold winter days have
come, and the snow, I doubt not, is lying thick on the trees and
ground. Knowing how interested you are, dear, in all your kind
friends there, I have thought how nice it would be for you, if
Elsie and Wilhelm consent, to have a Christmas-tree for a few
of your friends; and in order to carry this out, I enclose a
money order to the amount of L2, and leave it to you and Elsie
to spend it to the best of your power.

"I am also going to write to Herr Steiger to send, addressed to
you, ten pounds of tea, which I trust you to give from me to
each of the householders--nine in number, I think--in the little
Dorf, retaining one for your friends the Hoerstels. Will you,
dear Frida, be my almoner and do my business for me? I often
think of and pray for you, and I know you do not forget me. I
fear I will not be able to return to Dringenstadt till the month
of May, as my sister is still very ill, and I feel I am of use
to her.--Your affectionate friend. M. DRECHSLER."

"Oh, isn't it good? isn't it charming?" said Frida, jumping about the
room in her glee. "Mayn't we have the tree, Mutter? And will you not
some day soon come with me to Dringenstadt and choose the things for it?
Oh, I wish Hans were here, that I might tell him all about it! See, I
have not yet opened Adeline's letter; it is so long since I heard from
her. I wonder where they are living now. Oh, the letter is from Rome."

Then in silence she read on. Elsie, who was watching her, saw that as
she read on her cheeks coloured and her eyes sparkled with some joyful
emotion.

She rose suddenly, and going up to Elsie she said, "O Mutter, _was
denken Sie?_ [what do you think?]. Sir Richard and Lady Stanford enclose
a few lines saying they would like so much that I should, with your
consent, spend some months with them at Cannes in the Riviera, as a
companion to Adeline; and if you and Miss Drechsler agree to the plan,
that I would accompany friends of theirs from Baden-Baden who propose to
go to Cannes about the middle of January. And, Mutter," continued the
girl, "they say all