the high black plumes."

"What!" Kurt exclaimed, staring at Loneli as if she were a curious ghost
herself. How can you know anything about it?"

"Certainly I know about it," Loneli assured him. "Listen! You must
remember that grandmother lived a long time at the castle, so she has
told me everything that went on up there. In the lowest story there is a
huge old hall, and the walls are covered with weapons and things like
armour and helmets. In one corner there is an armoured knight with a
black-plumed helmet on his head. Whenever the young gentlemen from the
castle wanted to play a special prank, one of them would take the knight
on his shoulders, and the knightly long mantle would be hung over his
shoulders so as to cover him down to his high boot-tops. This figure
looked so terrible coming along the terrace that everybody always ran
away, even in bright daylight. Once the two young ladies shrieked loudly
when they suddenly saw the fearful knight. That pleased the young
gentlemen more than anything."

"Oh, then my mother saw him, too, and knows what he looks like," Kurt
exclaimed with a sudden start, for he had been breathlessly listening.

"Certainly, for she was one of the young ladies," Loneli said.

"But now nobody is at the castle except Mr. Trius, and he couldn't have
been there," Kurt objected. "I know that he sneaks about the meadows
till late in the evening in order to catch apple-thieves. That is so far
from the little woods that he could not possibly have heard us."

"But it was Mr. Trius just the same, you can believe me, Kurt," Loneli
assured her friend. "My grandmother has often said that Mr. Trius
always knows everything that is going on. He seems to hide behind the
hedges and then suddenly comes out from behind the trees when one least
expects him. You know that the boys have known about your plan several
days and that they don't always talk in a low voice. Besides, they have
been trying to get hold of apples every night. You can be sure that Mr.
Trius heard distinctly what your plan was."

"Yes, that is true, but I have to go to mother now," Kurt exclaimed, as
he started toward the house. Then, turning back once more, he said:
"Thank you ever so much, Loneli, you have done me a greater service than
you can realize by telling me everything. Nothing could have made me
happier than what you have said." As he spoke these words he shook the
little girl's hand with all his might.

The boy ran into t