from the very beginning the one girl among many boys, and ruling them
all with her whims and caprices.

Jan had no idea of lingering all day by the shore, and he soon broke up
the party by saying it was time for them all to go in and get on their
everyday clothes, and be twice as busy as usual to make up for lost
time.

Jan spoke bluntly, for he found himself in a softened mood, and that
was his odd way of showing it. For his part, he had made up his mind
that he had taken too little pains to give Karin pleasure--his good
wife, who had all kinds of bothers, no doubt, and never troubled him
about them.

A truce was sealed that day between Nono and the twins, though the
duumvirs said never a word on the subject. They were not going to
trouble a boy who could make such wonderful things, and show how
grateful he was to their own mother, who had been just as kind to them,
and they had thought little about it, and not even found out she had a
name-day at all.

When Nono was going to bed that night, Karin thanked him again for the
great pleasure he had given her.

"I did not give it to you; it was all the princess," he said. Karin
looked wonderingly at him, and he added, "I told Oke I wanted to make
beautiful things like some he showed me in a book about Italy the
pastor had lent him. Oke laughed first, and then he said it told in
the book that the men who made beautiful things did not always have
beautiful lives--good lives it meant, Oke said. I want to have a
beautiful life, Mamma Karin, and I thought it might be best not to try
to make figures at all, as I am always wanting to, and I felt sorry
about it. When Miss Alma showed me what the good princess could make,
I thought I might see if I could make beautiful things and have a
beautiful life too, like her. So you see it was the princess. I am
glad you were pleased."

Karin bade the little boy good-night with unusual tenderness. She
understood him, and in her heart the purpose was strengthened to try
more herself to lead "a beautiful life," and to begin more earnestly
than ever before on her name-day.

CHAPTER X.

THE LITTLE COTTAGE.

Of course, Alma was anxious to see the wonderful group that Nono had
made for Karin. The evening after the celebration of Karin's name-day,
Alma appeared at the cottage in a light summer costume and her parasol
held daintily in her hand, though the sun was veiled in golden clouds.
What was her astonishment to see