ossibility. But I had an idea, Hannah, that you were one of the people
who could manage pretty well to be happy with things as they came."

Hannah flushed and buried her face on Miss Lyndesay's shoulder. Frieda
looked restless.

"_Bitte, sprechen Sie mal Deutsch_," she said suddenly. "_Es tut
mir furchtbar weh, immer Englisch zu hoeren!_"

Quick as a flash Hannah's head came up, and she laughed a delicious
laugh. "Poor Frieda," she said in German, "does it hurt you awfully to
hear English all the time? There! There! I know how you feel. Did you
talk German to her coming over, Miss Lyndesay?"

Miss Lyndesay looked guilty. "I'm afraid I did. You see, it was such a
fine opportunity for me to practise, and I didn't want her to be
homesick, as well as--"

"I was not seasick," declared Frieda stoutly, and both the others
laughed.

"I have crossed the seas full many times," said Clara Lyndesay smiling,
"but never have I known any one who was seasick! But to change the
subject, it's almost time for Karl to be back to take you to the train,
children; and Frieda has a spot on her coat which I can remove if you
will open my suitcase, Hannah, and bring me the little bottle of benzine
in the left-hand corner. Mrs. Eldred must not think I have brought her
an untidy little _Maedchen_!"

They spent a cozy half hour chatting in German or English, as the spirit
or their respective inabilities moved them, and when Karl arrived to
escort them to the station, they were in a blithe mood, which even the
ordeal of parting from Miss Lyndesay did not shake.

"You are coming very soon to visit me," she said, as she kissed them
good-by, "and you are both to be good until then, and not belligerent.
Remember you are children no longer."

"Aren't you a child any longer, Frieda?" asked Hannah with interest, as
they entered the carriage.

"Indeed, I am not. Did you not see that I make no more _Knixes_?"

"That's so. Isn't it fun not to? Don't you ever forget?"

"Only once. When I met Miss Lyndesay in the churchyard," said Frieda,
dwelling on the memory.

"No wonder!" said Karl. "I would salaam before her, myself."

"So would I!" agreed Hannah. "But Frieda, then, if you are no longer a
child, at last you have a will?"

Frieda nodded her head emphatically.

"Now," she said, "I have a will."

And Karl, looking into her sturdy face, into the eyes which he had
sometimes seen dancing with mischief, sometimes flashing anger, and
sometime