e that was where it was hidden.

"Oh, that's lucky, for that eiderdown I'm going to fetch some day.
That you can tell Granny, with my love, next time you see her. Each
of my sisters when they married was given an eiderdown, and I claim
mine too."

"Granny only has one eiderdown!" Ditte protested--perhaps for the
twentieth time.

"Then she'll just have to take one of her many under-quilts. She
lies propped up nearly to the ceiling, with all those bedclothes."

Yes, Granny's bed was soft, Ditte knew that better than any one
else. Granny's bedclothes were heavy, and yet warmer than anything
else in the whole world, and there was a straw mat against the wall.
It had been so cosy and comfortable sleeping with Granny.

Ditte was small for her age, all the hardships she had endured had
stunted her growth. But her mind was above the average; she was
thoughtful by nature, and her life had taught her not to shirk, but
to take up her burden. She had none of the carelessness of
childhood, but was full of forethought and troubles. She _had_ to
worry--for her little sisters and brothers the few days she was with
Granny, and for Granny all the time she was not with her.

As a punishment, for having prolonged her visit to Granny without
permission, Soerine for a long time refused to let her go again. Then
Ditte went about thinking of the old woman, worrying herself into a
morbid self-reproach; most of all at night, when she could not sleep
for cold, would her sorrows overwhelm her, and she would bury her
head in the eiderdown, so that her mother should not hear her sobs.

She would remember all the sweet ways of the old woman, and bitterly
repent the tricks and mischief she had played upon her. This was her
punishment; she had repaid Granny badly for all her care, and now
she was alone and forsaken. She had never been really good to the
old woman; she would willingly be so now--but it was too late! There
were hundreds of ways of making Granny happy, and Ditte knew them
all, but she had been a horrid, lazy girl. If she could only go back
now, she certainly would see that Granny always had a lump of sugar
for her second cup of coffee--instead of stealing it herself. And
she would remember every evening to heat the stone, and put it at
the foot of the bed, so Granny's feet should not be cold. "You've
forgotten the stone again," said Granny almost every night, "my feet
are like ice. And what are yours like? Why, they're quite cold,