as he already had fair curly hair,
the artist removed his cap.

The first few attempts to get the likeness were failures. Whenever she
heard the voice issuing from the dark room, Walpurga was frightened and
imagined that witchery was going on. She became more and more agitated,
but at last, at Schoning's clever suggestion, a pianist in the
adjoining room played the air of Walpurga's favorite song. As soon
as she heard it, she could not help joining in the strain. Her
expression--and that of the child, too--became cheerful and
unconstrained. Eureka! the picture was a success.

The drives about the city had been lovely, but the most beautiful of
all was now to come.

It was a bright, balmy afternoon when they drove off. Although there
had been no rain for some time, the road was free from dust, sprinklers
having preceded the court carriage.

Walpurga was in an open carriage, with the prince and the queen. It was
the first time that she rode out among the villages and the fields. She
gazed at the people who were looking out of the windows, or sitting at
the doorsteps of the houses by the roadside, at the children who would
stop and salute them, and then, again, at the laborers in the fields.
She kept smiling, nodding and winking in all directions. The queen
asked:

"What ails you? What's the matter?"

"Oh, pardon me, queen; but here I'm riding in a carriage and four, and
over there the likes of me are working and toiling, and I know how the
women's backs ache from digging up potatoes, and while I ride by, as
though I were somebody better than they, it makes me feel as if I ought
to ask 'em all to forgive me for riding by in this way. I feel as if I
ought to say: 'Never mind; when the year's over, I'll be the same as
you are; the clothes I wear, the carriage and the horses, none of 'em
are mine; they're all borrowed.' Ah, dear queen, forgive me for saying
this to you, but you understand everything and know how to explain it
for the best. I empty my whole heart out to you," said Walpurga,
smiling.

"Yes, I understand what you mean," replied the queen; "and it is wise
of you thus to look forward to a return to your home. The thought that
you might be unable to content yourself there, has often troubled me.
Believe me, we who ride in carriages are no better off than those who
are walking barefoot through yonder stubble."

"I know it," said Walpurga. "No one can eat more than his fill, as my
father used to say, and