was as precious to the Master as
are the tender lambs to the shepherd, and she went out comforted. She
found Nono waiting for her at the door, with his dark eyes large and
earnest.

"I have thought what I can do, Mother Karin," he said. "I shall go up
to Stockholm and ask the good princess to take Decima into her home for
sick children, and she will be sure to get better there!"

"You go up to Stockholm! you ask the princess!" exclaimed Karin,
astonished at the magnitude and almost presumption of the proposal.

"I feel as if I knew the princess," persevered Nono. "I have thought
so much about her, and looked at her face until she don't seem to me
like a stranger, and then I know that she is so good. I want to start
to-day, Mother Karin. There is only a little time left of the
vacation, and I could not be away when school begins, you know. It is
so beautiful to-day, and not very cold."

Jan came along at the moment, and Nono explained his plan to him, much
as he had done to Karin, but with quite a different result.

"You are the right kind of a boy, Nono," said Jan, with hearty
approval. "You shall do just as you say. Maybe the Father in heaven
put it into your head. I know how a father feels when his children are
in trouble. Our royal family have never held their heads too high to
hear when the people were really in need. I am sure the princess would
be pleased to do what she could for our little Decima.--Karin, you get
Nono ready, right off. He is a good walker. It will only take him two
days to do it. Give him some loaves of bread, and he shall have some
coppers from me to buy milk by the way, and it will go well with him, I
really believe. There is not a cottager in Sweden who would not take
him in for a night when they had heard what he was out for. Something
must be done, any way, and we had better try this. It takes all the
heart out of me to see Decima as she is--our only girl, and such a
dear!"

There was something moist in Jan's eyes, but he brushed it away with
the back of his hand.

The boys had been sent to the woods to bring home their sled loaded
with brandies, to be cut up for fuel, for Jan had been felling a tree
the day before. When they came home to dinner they heard with
astonishment that Nono was off on his wonderful errand. "The little
boys" were at once detailed to wait upon Decima, when she condescended
to receive their attentions--an office on which they entered with