ood advice for to-day; and if you
gather strawberries to match you will get on very well for the present
at any rate."

The young people were of the same opinion, and pairing off in couples
set out on their quest.

"Come along, Elisabeth," said Reinhard, "I know where there is a clump
of strawberry bushes; you shan't eat dry bread."

Elisabeth tied the green ribbons of her straw hat together and hung it
on her arm. "Come on, then," she said, "the basket is ready."

Off into the wood they went, on and on; on through moist shady glens,
where everything was so peaceful, except for the cry of the falcon
flying unseen in the heavens far above their heads; on again through
the thick brushwood, so thick that Reinhard must needs go on ahead to
make a track, here snapping off a branch, there bending aside a
trailing vine. But ere long he heard Elisabeth behind him calling out
his name. He turned round.

"Reinhard!" she called, "do wait for me! Reinhard!"

He could not see her, but at length he caught sight of her some way
off struggling with the undergrowth, her dainty head just peeping out
over the tops of the ferns. So back he went once more and brought her
out from the tangled mass of briar and brake into an open space where
blue butterflies fluttered among the solitary wood blossoms.

Reinhard brushed the damp hair away from her heated face, and would
have tied the straw hat upon her head, but she refused; yet at his
earnest request she consented after all.

"But where are your strawberries?" she asked at length, standing still
and drawing a deep breath.

"They were here," he said, "but the toads have got here before us, or
the martens, or perhaps the fairies."

"Yes," said Elisabeth, "the leaves are still here; but not a word
about fairies in this place. Come along, I'm not a bit tired yet; let
us look farther on."

In front of them ran a little brook, and on the far side the wood
began again. Reinhard raised Elisabeth in his arms and carried her
over. After a while they emerged from the shady foliage and stood in a
wide clearing.

"There must be strawberries here," said the girl, "it all smells so
sweet."

They searched about the sunny spot, but they found none. "No," said
Reinhard, "it is only the smell of the heather."

Everywhere was a confusion of raspberry-bushes and holly, and the air
was filled with a strong smell of heather, patches of which alternated
with the short grass over these open spaces.