time I might not be able to help you. We shall all be glad to
see you at home again."

In her letter to Oscar, aunty wrote that he deserved a much worse
punishment than he had received, for his wilful misinterpretation of his
father's warning, obeying the letter, rather than the spirit, and for
his obstinacy about the motto. The letter then continued:--

"No notice from the police nor from the court of justice has been sent
to your father; but a complaint has been lodged against you from
another quarter. Only three days after he went from home, Feklitus came
back again, without bag or baggage, as if he had fled for his life. He
told a terrible tale of some scrape into which you had led him, and from
which he had got away safe only by his own most skilful management. On
the evening of that unlucky Festival he had scampered away from his
captors with all his might, flung himself into a railway carriage, and,
travelling all night, had not stopped till he reached home. Now you see,
dear Oscar, that you have something to answer for in this affair; for
even if Feklitus was unnecessarily frightened, it does not alter the
fact that you got him involved in a most unpleasant way, and his parents
are naturally very angry with you. You must at any rate take measures to
set Mrs. Bickel's mind at rest She told me yesterday that she had lost
her sleep and her appetite, from thinking about the beautiful leather
trunk, and the six new suits of clothes, which she has no doubt the
waiters at the Crown Prince are sharing among themselves. You must go to
the hotel, pack all the clothes carefully, lock the trunk, and send it
to him. Send the keys in a separate package, and then you will have
removed one cause of their not unreasonable displeasure."

With Fred, aunty pathetically condoled on the loss of his collection;
and then she added:--

"Yet you see, my dear Fred, you are to blame after all; for I told you
not to put your creatures where they would displease Mrs. Stanhope, if
she should see them. I could not specify every such place, but I trusted
to your commonsense to tell you that beetles and caterpillars do not
belong in a writing-desk! You are such an insatiable collector! You will
have to learn moderation. If you had only been satisfied with a
reasonable number of the finest specimens, you would not have needed so
many boxes; I am very glad that Fani hindered you from asking for them
in a house where so many kindnesses were bei