ell her to divide it fairly with me!"

Mother looked round. The whole place was covered with tables and
benches; a number of gaily dressed people from the neighbouring town
were drinking coffee and eating cake or waffeln, a kind of pancake for
which the inn was celebrated.

"Mother, don't speak to me, I'm too busy," said Trudel. "I've been
waiting on those gentlemen; the maids were shy of them, so I said I
would go and ask what they wanted." She pointed out some young men in
officers' uniform, who had come from a military school. "I've got 6d. in
tips, and I spent it on chocolate."

"Well I never!" said mother, astonished at her daughter's prowess--"you
have turned into a waitress, and on Sunday afternoon too. Whatever would
your aunts say?"

"I think I had better tell you what the young men said to me," said
Trudel seriously. "They said I was a sweet little thing, and that if I
were older, they would fall in love with me. I laughed of course; I
could see they were only silly old stupid heads. I told them they had
not much taste; for their military school was the ugliest building in
all the town. They quite agreed with me about this, however, and then
they asked me who my father was, and when I said he was a professor,
they laughed till I thought they would burst. But now you must excuse
me, really, mother darling. I have promised to go into the kitchen and
wash up cups and saucers!"

The landlady could not praise Trudel enough. Such a useful little girl,
she does everything in a most orderly way and wipes down the table when
she has finished! "If ever you want her to learn housekeeping, pray send
her to me, I should be delighted to teach her," she said.

"Yes," thought mother, "and make a nice little slavey of her into the
bargain. No, no, our Trudel is not going to turn into a housemaid!"

If Trudel had been some years older, father and mother might have
objected to these experiences; but, as it was, they only laughed.

PART IV

As the world is full of fact and fancy, so is this story. Whether it is
based mostly on fact or on fancy we will leave to the German
philosophers to decide, but I have heard that they are doubtful on this
point, with regard to the world, I mean.

It was a magical evening. Trudel was so engrossed in a game of cards
with the boys that she could not be induced to come out; moreover she
had a slight cold and the evenings were chilly. A glorious sunset glow
illumined the sky as mother