after you, chattering and laughing, clasping her arms
round you and kissing you, and if some one should say to you, as they
said to me, 'How great a treasure would induce you to exchange this
little somebody in the red petticoat for it?' and if you should say, 'I
will give up the child for so much,' then, your ladyship, you too may
say, as I say, that your heart is a heart of stone."

Katharina's face had grown very white. She staggered toward Marie,
caught her arm, and drew her toward the door, gasping:

"Come--come--let us go. The steam--the heat of--the kitchen makes--me
faint."

The fresh air of the court soon revived her.

"Let us play a trick on Ludwig," she suggested. "We will take his canoe,
and cross the cove to the manor. We can send it back with a servant."

She ordered her coachman to take the carriage home; then she took
Marie's hand and led her down to the lake.

They were soon in the boat. Marie, who had learned to row from Ludwig,
sent the little craft gliding over the water, while Katharina held the
rudder.

Very soon they were in the park belonging to the manor; and how
delighted Marie was to see everything!

A herd of deer crossed their path, summoned to the feeding-place by a
blast from the game-keeper's horn. The graceful animals were so tame
that a hind stopped in front of the two ladies, and allowed them to rub
her head and neck. Oh, how much there was to see and enjoy over here!

Katharina could hardly keep pace with the eager young girl, who would
have liked to examine the entire park at once.

What a number of questions she asked! And how astonished she was when
Katharina told her the large birds in the farm-yard were hens and
turkeys. She had never dreamed that these creatures could be so pretty.
She had never seen them before--not even a whole one served on the
table, only the slices of white meat which Lisette had always cut off
for her. But what delighted her more than anything else was that she
might meet people, look fearlessly at them, and be stared at in return,
and cordially return their friendly "God give you a good day!"

What a pleasure it was to stop the women and children, with all sorts
and shapes of burdens on their heads or in their arms, and ask what they
were carrying in the heavy hampers; to call to the peasant girls who
were singing merrily, and ask where they had learned the pretty songs.

"Oh, how delightful it is here!" she exclaimed, flinging her arms aroun