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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/28349-8.txt b/28349-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8f9073b --- /dev/null +++ b/28349-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4573 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Golden House, by Mrs. Woods Baker + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Golden House + +Author: Mrs. Woods Baker + +Release Date: March 17, 2009 [EBook #28349] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN HOUSE *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: Nono and the princess] + + + + +[Illustration: Vignette] + + + + +THE GOLDEN HOUSE + +BY MRS. WOODS BAKER + + + + + + +LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK + +THOMAS NELSON AND SONS + +1903 + + + + +_CONTENTS_ + + + I. Black Eyes and Blue + II. Karin's Flock + III. Aneholm Church + IV. No Secrets + V. An Artist + VI. The Boys + VII. A Young Teacher + VIII. In Alma's Room. + IX. Karin's Fête + X. The Little Cottage + XI. The Slide + XII. A Pedestrian Trip + XIII. The Princess + XIV. Where? + XV. The Birthday Gift + XVI. Spectacles + XVII. Questionings + XVIII. Nono's Plans, and Plans for Nono + XIX. Pietro + XX. The Opened Door + + + + +_LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS._ + + +Nono and the princess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece. + +Nono's gift to Alma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vignette. + +"He thrust out both hands as if throwing gifts in lavish profusion" + +The baptismal service + +"The first verse of a hymn was dictated to him" + +The model house + +Frans admonished + +"She had seen the hand-organ man from the window" + + + + +THE GOLDEN HOUSE. + + +CHAPTER I. + +BLACK EYES AND BLUE. + +A dreary little group was trudging along a Swedish highroad one bright +October morning. It was a union between north and south, and like many +other unions, not altogether founded on love. The bear, the prominent +member of the party, was a Swede, and a Swede in a very bad humour. +The iron ring in his torn nose, and the stout stick in the hand of one +of his Italian masters, showed very plainly that he needed stern +discipline. Now he dragged at the strong rope attached to the iron +ring, and held back, moving his clumsy legs as if his machinery were +out of order, or at least as if goodwill were lacking to give it a fair +start. + +The broad hats of the two men were gloomily slouched over their eyes; +for they were thoroughly chilled, having passed the night in the open +air for want of shelter. The woman, brown, thin, and bare-headed, +coughed, and pressed her hand to her breast, where a stiff bundle was +hidden under her shawl. + +They rounded a little turn in the road, hitherto shut in by high +spruces, and came suddenly in sight of a cottage of yellow pine, that +glowed cheerfully against its dark background of evergreens. + +"We stop at the golden house," said the older of the men, the bearer of +the organ, and evidently the leader as well as the musician of the +party. + +The younger Italian laughed a scornful laugh as he said in his own +language, "Only poor people live there." + +"We stop at the golden house!" commanded his companion, adding, "It +brings good luck to play for the poor." + +The cottage had its gable end to the road, while its broadside was +turned towards the southern sunshine, the well-kept vegetable-garden +and the pretty flower-beds in front of the windows. + +The gate was open, and the Italians came in stealthily--an art they had +learned to perfection. One little turn of the hand-organ and the bear +rose to his hind legs. The open door of the cottage was suddenly +filled. Round-faced, rosy, fair-haired, and eager were they +all--father and mother and six boys. They had evidently been disturbed +at a meal, for in their hands they held great pieces of hard brown +bread, in various stages of consumption. + +Eyes and mouths opened wide as the performance went on, and Bruin had +every reason to be satisfied with his share of the praise bestowed on +the entertainment, as well as on his personal appearance. He was a +young bear, and his brown coat looked as soft as plush, and it was no +wonder that two-year-old Sven whispered to his mother, "Me want to kiss +the pretty bear!" + +Sven judged Bruin by his clothing, not by his wicked little eyes or his +ugly mouth, which was by no means kissable. + +The performance over, bread and milk were liberally passed round to the +strangers, the bear having more than his fair portion. + +"Come in and sit a bit," said the tidy mother to the dark young woman. + +The answer was a pointing to the ear and a shaking of the head, which +said plainly, "I don't understand Swedish." + +The kindly beckoning that followed could not be mistaken, and the +Italian woman went into the cottage, glad to sit down in the one room +of which the interior consisted. One room it was, but large, and airy +too; for it not only stretched from outer wall to outer wall, but from +the floor to the high slanting roof. The rafters that crossed it here +and there were hung with homely stores--bags of beans and pease, and +slender poles strung with flat cakes of hard bread, far out of the +reach of the children. + +The Italian opened her shawl and took out a little brown baby, wrapped +up as stiff as a stick. It was evidently hungry enough, and not at all +satisfied when it was again tucked away under the shawl. + +Half by single words and half by signs the two mothers managed to talk +together. Swedish Karin soon knew that Francesca was ill, and was +going home to Italy as soon as her husband had money enough to pay +their passage. There was a wild look in the dark woman's eyes and a +fierceness in her gestures that made Karin almost afraid of her. When +the stranger had put into her pocket a bottle of milk that had been +given her, and a big cake of bread, she got up suddenly to go. + +It was evident there was to be another performance--a kind of +expression of thanks for the hospitality received. The bear stood up +and shook paws with the men, we may say; for the brown hands of the +Italians had a strange kind of an animal look about them. The clumsy +creature walked hither and thither, and then towered proudly behind his +two masters, looking down on their heads as if it gave him satisfaction +to prove that he was their superior in size at least. + +Francesca now took out her baby, and began to toss it high in the air, +catching it as it fell, and dancing meanwhile as if in delight. + +Perhaps the bear took offence that the attention of all beholders was +turned from himself. He made one stride towards the descending baby, +and opened and shut his great mouth with a wicked snap close to the +child. + +The Italian mother laughed a loud, wild laugh, and turned her back to +the bear, who put his two strong paws on her shoulder. A heavy blow +from the stout stick of the younger Italian brought him down on all +fours in a state of discontented submission. + +Karin had swept her children inside the wide door of the cottage, and +then Francesca was hurried in too with her baby. + +The leader of the party pointed after her, and then to his own head, +moving his thin hands first rapidly backwards and forwards, and +afterwards round and round, so describing the confusion in the poor +woman's brain as well as if he had said, "She is as crazy as a loon." + +Karin's eyes grew large with horror. She drew her husband round the +corner of the house and said, "Jan, I can't see that crazy woman go off +with the baby. Let me keep it!" + +"We have mouths enough to feed already," said the husband, and the +sturdy giant looked down, not unkindly, into the appealing eyes. His +face softened as he saw the little black bow at her throat, her only +week-day sign of mourning for her own little baby, so lately laid in +the grave. + +"He will cost us almost nothing for a long time," she said, "and he can +wear my little Gustaf's clothes. Perhaps God has let our little boy up +in heaven send this baby to me to take his place." + +"You are a good woman, Karin, and you ought to have your way," said the +husband; and she knew she had his consent. + +Francesca looked back with approval on the cheerful room as she came +out, then stooped to pick a bit of mignonnette that grew by the steps. + +Karin stretched out her hands, took the little brown baby in her arms, +pointed to the black bow at her throat, and quickly made a sign of +laying a baby low in a grave. Then she pressed the little stranger +close, close to her heart, and moved as if she would go into the +cottage with him. + +A light gleamed in Francesca's eyes, and a tear actually glittered on +her husband's black eyelashes. + +"I keep the child," said Karin distinctly, turning to the man. + +He bowed his head solemnly, and said, "I leave him." Then he pointed +suddenly up to the sky, stretching his arm to its full length; then he +thrust out both hands freely towards her again and again, as if +throwing gifts in lavish profusion. + +[Illustration: "He thrust out both hands, as if throwing gifts in +lavish profusion."] + +Karin understood his "God will reward you abundantly" as well as if it +had been spoken in words. She kissed the little brown baby in reply, +and the father knew that crazy Francesca's child had found a mother's +love. + +The men bowed and waved their hands, and the bear followed them +lumberingly out through the gate. Francesca lingered a moment, then +caught up a stick from within the enclosure, where Jan had been lately +chopping. She wrapped it hastily in her shawl, and went off with a +long, wild laugh. + +The Swedes watched the party make their way along the road, until they +came to a turn that was to hide them from sight. There the Italians +swung their broad hats, and Francesca threw the stick high in the air +and caught it in her hands, as a parting token. + +Karin pressed the little stranger to her mother's heart, and thanked +God that he was left to her care. + +So the little Italian came to the golden house--the black eyes among +the blue. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +KARIN'S FLOCK. + +There was a family group in the big room at the golden house. The +mother sat in the centre, with the brown baby on her knee. The heads +of the six fair-haired children were bent down over the new treasure +like a cluster of rough-hewn angels in the Bethlehem scene, as carved +out by some reverent artist of old. With a puzzled, half-pleased +glance the stalwart father looked down upon them all, like a benignant +giant. + +"Is he really our own little baby now?" said one of the children. + +"What shall we call him?" asked another. + +"We'll name him, of course, after the bear," said the oldest boy, who +liked to take the lead in the family. "I heard the man call him +Pionono, and he said the bear knew his name." + +"We won't call him after that horrid bear!" exclaimed Karin. + +"Uncle Björn is as nice as anybody, and his name is just 'bear,'" urged +one of the boys. + +"Don't contrary your mother," said Jan decidedly. "Pionono is too long +a name. We'll call him Nono, and that's a nice name, to my thinking." + +"A nice, pretty little name," said the mother, "and I like it." + +And so the matter was settled. The little brown baby was to be called +after a pope and bear, in Protestant Sweden. Nono (the ninth) suited +him better than any one around him suspected. The tiny Italian was +really the ninth baby that had come to the golden house. Karin had now +six children. She had laid her firstborn in the grave long ago, and +lately her little Gustaf had been placed beside him in the churchyard. + +Classification simplified matters in Karin's family, as elsewhere. The +children were divided by common consent into three pairs, known as the +boys, the twins, and the little boys. For each division the laws and +privileges were fixed and unalterable. "The boys," Erik and Oke, were +the oldest pair. Erik was at present a smaller edition of his father, +with a fair promise of a full development in the same direction. Now, +at twelve years of age, he was almost as tall as his mother, and could +have mastered her at any time in a fair fight. Oke, a year younger, +was pale, and slight, and stooping, with a thin, straight nose, quite +out of keeping with the large, strongly-marked features of the rest of +the children. As for "the twins," it was difficult to think of them as +two boys. They were so much alike that their mother could hardly tell +them apart. Indeed, she had a vague idea that she might have changed +them without knowing it many times since they were baptized. How could +she be sure that the one she called Adam was not Enos, and Enos the +true Adam? Of two things she was certain--that she loved them both as +well as a mother ever loved a pair of twins, and that they were worthy +of anybody's unlimited affection. She was proud of them, too. Were +they not known the country round as Jan Persson's splendid twins, and +the fattest boys in the parish? As for "the little boys," they were +much like the Irishman's "little pig who jumped about so among the +others he never could count him." "The little boys" were always to be +found in unexpected and exceptionable places, to the great risk of life +and limb, and the great astonishment of the beholders. To try to ride +on a strange bull-dog or kiss a bear was quite a natural exploit for +them, for they feared neither man nor beast. + +As for Karin, she was not a worrying woman, and took the care of her +many children cheerily. She could but do her best, and leave the rest +to God and the holy angels. Those precious protectors had lately +seemed very near to her, since baby Gustaf had gone to live among them. +That all would go right with Nono she did not doubt. When she laid him +down for the night, she clasped his tiny brown hands, and prayed not +only for him, but for his poor mother, wherever she might be, and left +her to the care of the merciful Friend who could give to wild lunatics +full soundness of mind. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ANEHOLM CHURCH. + +Sunday had come. Along the public road, where the Italians and the +bear had lately passed, rolled a heavy family carriage, drawn by two +spirited horses. The gray-haired coachman had them well in hand, and +by no means needed the advice or the assistance of the fat little boy +perched at his side, though both were freely proffered. The child was +dressed in deep mourning, but his clothes alone gave any sign of +sorrow. His face gleamed with delight as he was borne along between +green fields, or played bo-peep with the distant cottages, through a +solemn line of spruces or a glad cluster of young birches. + +On the comfortable back seat of the carriage was an elderly gentleman, +tall, thin, and stooped, with eyes that saw nothing of earth or sky, as +his thoughts were in the far past, or in the clouds of the sorrowful +present. By his side, close pressed to him, with her small +black-gloved hand laid on his knee, sat a little nine-year-old girl, +her sad-coloured suit in strange contrast with the flood of golden hair +that streamed from under her hat, and fell in shining waves down to her +slight waist. The fair young face was very serious, and the mild blue +eyes were full of loving light, as she now and then peeped cautiously +at her father. He did not notice the child, and she made no effort to +attract his attention. + +"Papa! papa! what's that? what's that?" suddenly cried out the little +boy. "What's that that's so like the gingerbread baby Marie made me +yesterday? Just such a skirt, and little short arms!" + +The father's attention was caught, and he turned his eyes in the +direction pointed out by the child's eager finger. + +The sweet sound of a bell came from the strange brown wooden structure, +an old-time belfry, set not on a roof or a tower, but down on the +ground. Slanting out wide at the bottom, to have a firm footing, it +did look like a rag-dolly standing on her skirts, or a gingerbread +baby, as the young stranger had said. + +A stranger truly in the land of his fathers was fat little Frans. +Alma, his sister, had often reproached him with the facts that he had +never seen his own country and could hardly speak his own language. +Born in Italy, he had now come to Sweden for the first time, with the +funeral train which bore the lifeless image of his mother to a +resting-place in her much-loved northern home. + +"Is that the church, papa?" Alma ventured to ask, seeing her father +partially roused from his reverie. + +The barn-like building was without any attempt at adornment. There was +no tower. The black roof rose high, very high and steep from the +thick, low white walls, that were pierced by a line of small rounded +windows. + +"That is Aneholm Church," the father said, half reprovingly. "There +your maternal ancestors are buried, and there their escutcheons stand +till this day. I need not tell you who is now laid in that churchyard." + +He turned his face from the loving eyes of the child, and she was +silent. + +A few more free movements of the swift horses, and the carriage stopped +before a white-arched gateway. A wall of high old lindens shut in the +churchyard from the world without, if world the green pastures, quiet +groves, and low cottages could be called. It was but a small +enclosure, and thick set with old monuments and humbler memorials, open +books of iron on slender supports, their inscriptions dimmed by the +rust of time, small stones set up by loving peasant hands, and one +fresh grave covered with evergreen branches. Alma understood that on +that grave she must place the wreath of white flowers that had lain in +her lap, and there her father would lay the one beautiful fair lily he +held in his hand. + +This tribute of love was paid in mournful silence, and then the father +and the children passed into the simple old sanctuary. + +The church was even more peculiar within than without. It was white +everywhere--walls, ceiling, and the plain massive pillars of strong +masonry on which rested the low round arches. It looked more like a +crypt under some great building than if it were itself the temple. The +small windows, crossed by iron gratings, added to the prison-like +effect of the whole. It was but a prison for the air of the latest +summer days, shut in there to greet the worshippers, instead of the +chill that might have been expected. + +Warm was the atmosphere, and warm the colouring of the heraldic devices +telling in armorial language what noble families had there treasured +their dead. The altar, without chancel-rail, stood on a +crimson-covered platform. On each side of it, at a respectful +distance, were two stately monuments, on which two marble heroes were +resting, one in full armour, and the other in elaborate court-dress. +Alma could see that there were many names on the largest of these +monuments, and her eyes filled with tears as she saw her mother's dear +name, freshly cut below the list of her honoured ancestors. + +The father did not look at the monument, or round the church at all. +With eyes cast down, he entered a long wide pew, with a heraldic device +on the light arch above the door. Prudently first placing little Frans +at the end of the bare bench, he took his place, with Alma on the other +side of him. + +The church was almost empty. A few old bald-headed peasants were +scattered here and there, and on the organ-loft stairs clattered the +thick shoes of the school children, who were to assist in the singing. + +The father bowed his head too long for the opening prayer. Alma +understood that he had forgotten himself in his own sad thoughts. Her +little slender hand sought his, that hung at his side, and her fragile +figure crowded protectively towards him. + +Meanwhile Frans had produced two bonbons, wrapped in mourning-paper, +and with hour-glasses and skeletons gloomily pictured upon them. He +was engaged in counting the ribs of the skeletons, to make sure that +the number was the same on both, when Alma caught sight of him. The +gentle, loving look in her face changed suddenly to one of sour +reproof. She motioned disapprovingly to Frans, and vainly tried to get +at him behind the rigid figure of her father. Before her very eyes, +and in smiling defiance, the boy opened the black paper and devoured +the sweets within, with evident relish, bodily and spiritual. + +At this moment there was a stir in the vestibule and in the sacristy +adjoining, and then a murmur of low, hushed voices, and for a moment +the tramping of many little feet. + +Alma looked around her, and now noticed on the platform for the altar a +small white-covered table, and upon it a little homely bowl and a +folded napkin. Beside the table a gray-haired old clergyman had taken +his place. In one hand he held officially a corner of his open white +handkerchief, while in the other was a thin black book. + +There was a slight shuffling first, and then a tall man, with +apparently a very stout woman at his side, came up the aisle and stood +in front of the clergyman. + +"It cannot be a wedding," thought Alma, accustomed to the splendid +fonts of the churches of great cities; she could not suppose that +simple household bowl was for a baptism. The broken, disabled stone +font she did not notice, as it leaned helplessly against the side wall +of the building. + +The clergyman opened his book and looked about him, doubtfully turned +over the leaves, and then began the service "for the baptism of a +foundling," as the most appropriate for the present peculiar +circumstances that the time-honoured ritual afforded. + +At that moment Karin threw open her shawl, and showed the little brown +baby asleep in her arms. Alma's attention was fixed, and Frans was all +observation, if not attention. + +[Illustration: The baptismal service.] + +"Beloved Christians," began the pastor; he paused, glanced at the +scattered worshippers, and then went on, "our Lord Jesus Christ has +said, 'Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter +into the kingdom of God.' We do not know whether this child has been +baptized or no, since, against the command of the heavenly Father, and +even the very laws and feelings of nature, he has been forsaken by his +own father and mother." + +Here Karin gave involuntarily a little dissenting movement as she +thought of the half-crazy mother and the sorrowful father, and made the +mental comment that they had done the best they could under the +circumstances. The pastor paused (perhaps doubting himself the +appropriateness of the statement), and then read distinctly,-- + +"Therefore we will carry out what Christian love demands of us, and +through baptism confide the child to God, our Saviour Jesus Christ, +praying most heartily that he will graciously receive it, and grant it +the power of his Spirit unto faith, forgiveness of sins, and true +godliness, that it, as a faithful member of his church, may be a +partaker of all the blessedness that Jesus has won for us and +Christianity promises." + +The service then proceeded as usual, and the little Nono was baptized +in God's holy name. + +Jan and Karin were duly exhorted that they should see that the child +should grow up in virtue and the fear of the Lord; which promises and +resolutions the honest pair solemnly determined, with God's help, to +sacredly keep and fulfil. + +Nono was borne down the aisle, having acquitted himself as well as +could be expected on this important occasion. The eager prisoners in +the pew by the door now filed out, six in number, to form little Nono's +baptismal procession. Sven, insisting upon kissing the baby then and +there, was prudently allowed to do so, to prevent possibly an +exhibition of wilfulness that would have been a public scandal. This +proceeding well over, Nono and his foster-brothers went back to the +golden house, in which he now had a right to a footing, and the +blessing of a home in a Christian family. + +Alma could never remember anything of the service or the sermon on that +day. Her attention had been fully absorbed in the baptism of the wee +brown baby whose parents had deserted him, and in whom the "beloved +Christians" of the parish had been called on to take so solemn an +interest. + +Before leaving the church, Alma's father gave one long, sorrowful +glance at the new name on the old monument. Beside it the old +clergyman had taken them all by the hand, and had said some +low-murmured words of which the little girl could not catch the meaning. + +"Papa," Alma ventured to say when they were fairly seated in the +carriage, "did not the pastor mean you and me, too, when he said +'beloved Christians'? We were there, and only a few other people, and +he must have meant us too. We are Christians, of course, are we not?" + +He turned his large sorrowful eyes towards her, and was silent. _She_ +might be a Christian. The Saviour had said that children were of the +kingdom of heaven. But she was no longer a very little child, but +uncommonly womanly for her age. He suddenly remembered some +unchristian peculiarities that were certainly growing upon her. She +must be looked after, and placed where she would be under the right +kind of influence. Her small hand was now laid caressingly on his +knee, and he placed his own over it. + +Alma was not astonished at her father not answering her. She was +accustomed to see him sunk in moody silence. Happily she could not +read the thoughts that her question had suggested. That he was not +truly one of the "beloved Christians" the father secretly acknowledged +to himself. He had not, he was sure, the firm faith in God and the +loving trust in man that belong to the children of the kingdom of +heaven. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +NO SECRETS. + +The children at the golden house had been regaled with milk and white +biscuits in honour of Nono's baptism, and were enjoying the treat in +the grove behind the cottage. + +Nono lay on Karin's knee, and she was looking fondly at him, while Jan +stood silently beside her. + +"I am a kind of a mother to him now, a real god-mother," she said. "I +don't mean to tell him that he is not quite my own child. I mean to +love him just like the others, and he shall never feel like a stranger +here." + +"Now you are quite wrong, Karin," said Jan, with a very serious look in +his face. "He isn't your own child, and you can't make him so by +hiding the truth from him. Tell him from the very first how it was. +He won't love you the less because he was a stranger and you took him +in. It would be a poor way to bring him up so that he will 'grow in +virtue and the fear of the Lord,' as we promised this morning, to begin +by telling him what wasn't true right straight along. What would he +think of you when he found out in the end that you had been deceiving +him ever since he could remember? And the other children, too; they +know all about it. Could you make them promise to pretend, like you, +that Nono was their own brother? No good ever comes of going from the +truth. That's my notion!" + +Jan stood up very straight as he finished, and sitting as Karin was, he +seemed to her in every way high above her. + +"You are right, Jan," she answered sorrowfully. "I suppose I must do +as you say. I did so want him to be really my own, just like my little +Gustaf." + +"_Your_ little Gustaf, _our_ little Gustaf, is in a good place, and I +hope Nono will be there too sometime," said Jan. + +"Not Nono in heaven yet!" said Karin, pressing the dark baby to her +breast. "I cannot spare him, and I don't believe God will take him." + +"Now you are foolish, Karin. That was not what I meant," said Jan +tenderly. "You bring him up right, and he will come sometime where +Gustaf is, and that's what we ought to want most for him." Jan paused +a moment, and then went on: "Somehow those words of the baptism took +hold of me to-day as they never did before, not even when my owny tony +children were baptized. I mean to be the right kind of a godfather to +him if I can." + +Jan kept his resolution. He could sometimes be rough and hasty with +his own boys when he was tired or particularly worried; towards Nono he +was always kind, and just, and wise. Somehow there had entered into +his honest heart the meaning of the words, "I was a stranger, and ye +took me in." What was done for Nono was, in a way, done for the Master. + +Karin did not reason much about her feelings for the black-eyed boy who +was growing up in the cottage. She gave him a mother's love in full +abundance. If little Nono had no sunny Italian skies above him, he had +the sunshine of a happy home, and real affection in the golden house. + +From the very first Nono heard the truth as to how he came to be living +in the cold north. Before he could speak, the story of the bear and +the Italians had been again and again told in his presence. Of course, +every one who saw the black-eyed, brown-skinned child inquired how he +came among the frowzy white heads of his foster-brothers. The picture +of the whole scene grew by degrees so perfect in Nono's mind, that he +really believed he had been a witness of as well as a prominent +partaker in the performance. It was only by severe reproof and +reproach on the part of the other children that he was made to +understand that he had been only a baby "so long" (the Swedish boys +held their hands very near together on such occasions), while they had +had the honour of seeing the very whole, and remembered it as perfectly +as if it had happened yesterday, as probably some of them did. + +So Nono had to take a humble place as a mere listener when the +oft-repeated story was told, with every particular carefully preserved +among the many eye-witnesses. + +"But I love him just as well as if he were my own," was Karin's +unfailing close to such conversations, with a caress for the little +Italian that sealed the truth of her assertion. + +Nono loved his foster-mother with the grateful affection of his warm +southern nature. Yet the very name Italy had for him a magical charm, +and the sound of a hand-organ, or the sight of a dark-faced man with a +broad-brimmed hat, made him thrill with a half joy that his own kith +and kin were coming, and a half fear that he was to be taken away from +the pleasant cottage and all the love that surrounded him. Bears had a +perfect fascination for him, but all the specimens he saw were rough +and ragged. No bear, the family were all sure, had ever had such a +beautiful brown coat of fur as that Pionono that Sven had been so +anxious to kiss. + +Nono's favourite text in the Bible was the one that expressed the +youthful David's reliance on God when he went out to meet the insolent +Goliath: "The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and +out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from this Philistine." +The Philistine stood for any and all threatening dangers of soul and +body, and this passage cheered the little Italian through many a +childish trouble, and many an encounter with the big boys from the +village, who delighted to assail him in solitary places, and reproach +him with being an outlandish stranger, living on charity, and not as +much of a Swede as the ugly bear he was named after. + +All the warmer seemed to Nono the sheltering affection of Karin, +contrasted with these frequent attacks from without. His gratitude +expressed itself in an enthusiastic devotion to Karin, and a delight in +doing her the slightest service. + +"Nono sets a good example to the other boys," said Jan one day. "I +don't know, Karin, what he wouldn't be glad to do for you. Our own +little rascals get all they can out of 'mother,' and hardly take the +trouble to say 'Thank you.' As for thinking to help you, that always +falls on Nono." + +"Our boys are much towards me as we are to our heavenly Father, I +think. We seem to take it for granted he will give us what We need, +and that's all there is of it. At least that's the way I am, Jan." + +Karin liked to make an excuse for her children when she thought Jan was +a little hard upon them. + +"I won't forget that, Karin, when I'm put out, as I am sometimes with +the boys," answered Jan. "They are not a bad set, anyhow, to be so +many. I know I am not half as thankful as I ought to be: not in bed a +day since I can remember." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +AN ARTIST. + +Time slipped away rapidly at the golden house. There had been many +pleasant family scenes, both within and around the cottage, since Nono +had been so tenderly welcomed there, eight years before. + +It was a bright July morning. The bit of a rye-field on the other side +of the road stood in the summer sunshine in tempting perfection. The +harvesting had begun, in a slow though it might be a sure manner. A +tall, spare old man, his hat laid aside, and his few scattered gray +locks fluttering in the gentle breeze, was the only reaper. His shirt +sleeves rolled up above the elbows showed his meagre, bony arms. His +thin neck and breast were bare, as he suffered from heat from his +unwonted labour. The scythe moved slowly, and the old man stopped +often to draw a long breath. Near him stood a fair-haired, sturdy +little girl, who held up her apron full of corn flowers, as blue as the +eyes that looked so approvingly upon them. They were in the midst of a +chat in a moment of rest, when a figure, strange and interesting to +them both, came along the road with a light, free step. + +The new-comer was a tall young girl, with a white parasol in her hand, +though her wide-brimmed hat seemed enough to keep her fair face from +being browned by the glad sunshine. She stopped suddenly when she came +in front of the cottage, and fixed her eyes on the old man and the +child with an expression of astonished delight. "Charming! beautiful! +I must paint them," she said to herself. + +The stranger put down the camp-stool she had on her arm, and screwed +into its back her parasol with the long handle. She sat down at once +and opened her box, where paper and pallet and all manner of +conveniences for amateur painters were admirably arranged. "Please, +please stand still," she said; "just as you are. I want to paint you." + +"I have to stop often to rest; but I must work while I can. I don't +want to be idle if I am old. I can't do a real day's work; but I can +get something done if I am industrious," said the gray-haired labourer +hesitatingly. + +The child seemed to notice something sorrowful in the tone of her +companion's voice, and she came quickly to his aid, saying,-- + +"Uncle Pelle is the best man in the world. Mother says he'll never +teach us anything that isn't just right. He does a good bit of work, +father says, and he knows." + +The little girl was evidently accustomed to be listened to, and did not +stand in awe of this stranger or any other. + +"I shall pay you both if you hold still awhile and let me take your +picture; and that will be just as well for Uncle Pelle as cutting +grain, and lighter work, too. You can talk if you want to, but you +must not stir while I am making a real likeness of you." + +"As the young lady pleases," said the old man, with a look of +resignation. "I want to be useful." + +"Is that your uncle, child?" asked the young artist. "I thought, of +course, it was your grandfather." Then looking towards the old man she +added, "Do you live here?" and she nodded towards the golden house. + +"I don't live anywhere," said the old man sorrowfully. "The poorhouse +in Aneholm parish and the poorhouse in Tomtebacke, some way from here, +can't agree which should keep me, and now they are lawing about it. +I've had a fever, and I seem to be broke down. I don't belong anywhere +just now, but Karin there in the house says I'm a kind of relation of +hers, though it puzzles me to see how. She wants me to stay with them +till all is settled; and Jan, who mostly lets her have her way, tells +me he hasn't anything against it. So you see I like to do a turn of +work if I can, if it's only to show I'm thankful. Karin says she's +used to a big family, and it seems lonesome since her oldest son went +to America, and I must take his place. I don't live in the cottage. +There are enough of 'em there without me. They've fixed me up a place +alongside of Star--that's the cow." + +"It's a dear little room," said the child, "and we all like to be +there; but Uncle Pelle shuts the door sometimes, and won't let us in." + +"Old folks must have their quiet spells," said the old man +apologetically. + +"It isn't just to be quiet, you know, Uncle Pelle. Mother says Uncle +Pelle reads good books when he is alone, and makes good prayers, too; +and he's a blessing to the family," said the little girl, who seemed to +consider herself the friend and patron of her companion. + +"She's a bit spoiled. The only girl, you see. There were six boys +before, not counting Nono or the two boys that died." + +"Nono!" exclaimed the stranger. "That was the name of the little brown +baby I saw baptized in Aneholm church, eight years ago, when I was at +home before, just for a few days." + +"It is a queer name," said Uncle Pelle. "The pastor said it meant the +ninth, as the Italians talk; and so when this little girl came, he said +Karin and Jan might as well call her Decima, which was like the tenth, +in Swedish. And they did. They about make a fool of her in the +family; and I ain't much better. That's Nono behind you." + +A slight dark boy had been standing quietly watching the young stranger +while she skilfully handled her brushes. He now stepped forward, took +off the little straw hat of his own braiding, and bowed, without any +sheepish confusion. + +"Here's Nono!" said Decima, placing herself beside him, as if she had a +special right to exhibit him to the stranger. + +"And so you are Nono," said Alma. "I have always felt as if you +belonged in a way to me. Where did the people who live here find you?" + +"They didn't find me at all; they took me, and have brought me up as if +I was their own child," said Nono, his eyes sparkling. + +The story of the Italians and the bear was told by Nono, as usual, and +the scene most vividly described by word and gesture. Decima did not +pretend that she knew more than he did on this subject, and indeed he +was quite her oracle in all matters. She thought Nono a pink of +perfection; and well she might, for he had been her playmate and +guardian ever since she could remember. It was confidently affirmed in +the family that Nono could, from the first, make her laugh and show her +dimples as she would not for any one else. Nono had soon learned that +he could be a help to Karin with the baby, and was always more willing +than were her rough brothers to be tied to the child's little +apron-string. + +Nono had hardly finished his story when the young lady took out the +smallest watch imaginable and looked hastily at it. She gathered up +her painting apparatus in a great hurry, and was off with a hasty +good-bye, saying her father would be expecting her home to dinner, but +she would see them again soon and finish her picture. She had almost +forgotten in her hurry the money she had promised, but she suddenly +remembered that part of the transaction, and left in the old man's +hand, as he said, "more than enough to pay for a whole day's work, just +for standing still, that little bit, to be painted." + +Alma was soon out of sight of Pelle and Decima, who followed her with +their wondering eyes as she sped along the road towards her pleasant +home. The one thing about which her father could be severe with her +was being late at meals. But for this severity, he would often have +dined without her; for Alma was full of absorbing hobbies, and when +anything interested her, food and sleep were to her matters of no +consequence. Now her brain was revolving a new scheme. Alma had been +for years in a Swiss boarding-school, and there, among many +accomplishments, had acquired a thorough knowledge of the English +language. She had been charmed with the accounts she had read of the +work of the English ladies among the cottagers on their large estates. +She had determined to "do just so" when she was fairly settled at home. +She would now begin at once with Nono. She felt she had a kind of +charge over him. Had not her own dear mother died in Italy, where his +mother came from? That baptism, too, she could never forget! He +should not grow up like a heathen in Sweden if she could prevent it. +She would have him up at "the big house" every day for a Scripture +lesson. She wanted to paint him too; how lovely he would be in a +picture! She must have the old man with him. How charming it would be +to sketch youth and age working in the garden together! She could pay +them for their time, and they would look up to her as a kind of +guardian angel. Alma flitted along, almost as if she had wings +already, as these pleasant thoughts floated through her mind. + +The angel seemed suddenly to change to a fury as a shout arose from +behind a dark evergreen, and a nondescript-looking individual, ragged +and dirty, came out upon her, exclaiming,-- + +"I suppose I must not come near your highness, looking as I do!" + +Streaked with mud on face and clothing, his feet bare, and his trousers +rolled up to his knees, her brother stood before her, his eyes gleaming +with delight in spite of her evident displeasure. + +"I've got a basket of polywogs, and some delicious bugs, and a big +caterpillar that would make your mouth water if you were addicted to +vermicelli. See here!" + +He moved as if he were about to open up his treasures for her +inspection. + +"Do keep away, Frans!" exclaimed Alma, as she drew her befrilled and +beflounced skirt about her, as if to escape dangerous contagion. + +At this moment she swept in at the gate that led to the house, and shut +it hastily behind her. + +"I'm going in the back way, anyhow," said Frans, with a merry laugh. +"Your grace and my grace cannot well make our _entrée_ together." + +"The most troublesome boy in the world!" said Alma to herself, and she +expressed her sincere conviction. + +At this moment Alma saw the bent form of her father riding slowly +before her. Her whole expression changed again, and she quickened her +steps into a run, and was soon at his side. + +"Are you very tired, papa, after your little ride?" she said tenderly. + +"No, darling. But how fresh and rosy you look! The air of old Sweden +suits you, I see." + +How happy the two were together! how gentle and loving were they both! +Alma really looked like the guardian angel she meant to be to Nono and +Uncle Pelle. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE BOYS. + +When Decima had been fairly settled as the tenth little baby that had +come to the golden house, Erik, the oldest of the flock, confided to +Nono that he meant to start as soon as possible for America. Nono was +the recipient of the secrets of all the children. They always found in +the little Italian a sympathetic listener, and they could be sure of +his profound silence as to their private communications. Nono's +evident sense of the many for whom Karin was called on to care had +suggested to Erik that although it would be too great a penance for him +to be tending a baby, as Nono did, he could go out and earn his own +living; which would probably be quite as useful to the family. So to +America he had resolved to go, always understanding that he had gained +his parents' permission. That permission was not hard to win, for +Karin had friends who were emigrating, and who would take care of her +boy on the way, and were willing to promise to look after him on his +arrival in the "far West," whither they were bound. + +Erik went off cheerily, with his ticket paid to the end of his journey, +and a little box of strong clothing, his Bible, and his parents' +blessing as the capital he took to the new country. Erik had another +treasure, not outside of him, but in his inmost heart--a resolve to +lead in a foreign land just such a life as he should not be ashamed to +have his parents know about, the Word of God being his guide and +comfort. Erik was no experienced Christian, but he had started in the +right spirit. + +Erik had never been renowned for his scholarship, but rather for his +industry and skill when real practical work was in question. He wrote +at first short letters in Swedish. They soon came less and less +frequently, and finally in a kind of mixed language, a mingling of the +new and the old, a fair transcript of his present style of +conversation. These letters caused much puzzling in the golden house, +and occasionally had to be taken to the old pastor for explanation and +translation. One came at last, beginning "Dear moder and broder, +hillo!" Then followed a page in a curious lingo, wherein it was stated +that Erik now had a nice room to himself in the "place" he had +obtained. He did not say that the room was in the stable where he was +hostler, or that it was just six feet by eight when lawfully measured. +He also mentioned that he had food fit for a count; which was true in a +way, as he was daily regaled with fruit and vegetables that would have +been esteemed in Sweden luxuries sufficient for the table of any +nobleman. He dressed like a count too, he said; on which point Erik's +testimony was not to be accepted, as he had had little to do with +counts in his native land. The big boy did not mean to exaggerate. He +was simply and honestly delighted at his success in seeking his +fortune. Not that he was laying up money. Far from it. He was +sending home to "old Sweden" all he could possibly spare, and was +anxious to have Karin feel that it was a light thing for a son who was +so comfortable to be remitting a bit of money now and then to a mother +who had given him such love and care all the days of his life. Erik +did not write much about or to his father, but he thought of him all +the more, and inwardly thanked that father for his stern and steady +hand with his boys, and for teaching them not only to do honest work, +but to know what a real Christian man should be. + +Oke, the next boy, had been the bearer to the parsonage of Erik's +unreadable letters, and had there been instructed in their proper +rendering into everyday Swedish. So a kind of special acquaintance had +grown up between the slender, pale boy and the kind old pastor. + +The pastor was a bachelor, and lonely in his declining years. He had +found it pleasant to see Oke coming with an American letter in his +hand, his young face beaming with delight. The pastor had, besides, +learned to know more and more of Karin's home and the spirit that was +reigning there. Perhaps, when he saw Uncle Pelle sitting in church, +Sunday after Sunday, clean and happy among Karin's boys, he had thought +he too might have a guest-room that might receive one member from the +full golden house. So Oke came to live at the pastor's, who said he +did not see as well as he once did, and he must have a boy trained to +read aloud to him, and to write a bit, too, for him now and then. It +was stipulated that Oke's duties were not to be all of the literary +sort. The pastor was convinced that Oke had a good head for study, and +really ought to have a chance to improve himself. The boy was not, +however, to be kept constantly bending over books, but was to have as +much work in the open air as possible. The pastor himself had a weak +constitution, and had suffered all his life from delicate health, and +had found it no pleasant experience. Oke should be a robust Christian, +for a Christian he was of course to be. + +The elder boys being disposed of, the twins had come into power. The +oldest among the children had always been allowed to be a kind of +perpetual monitor for the rest, with restricted powers of discipline. +Oke's rule had been mild but firm. He had taken no notice of small +matters; but if anything really wrong had gone on, Jan was sure to hear +of it, and a thorough settlement with the offender inevitably followed. + +The twins were rather against the outside world in general, strong in +their two pair of hands, and two loud voices to shout on their side. +Nono really feared this duumvirate, for the twins had more than once +given him to understand that he would "catch it" when they got to be +the oldest at home. They had no particular offences to complain of or +anticipate on Nono's side, but they enjoyed giving out awful threats of +what they would do if ever they had the opportunity. Oke had kept them +in order without difficulty, for he had a vehement power of reproof, +when fairly roused, that could make even the twins hide their faces in +shame, as he pictured to them their unworthiness. + +Nono had gotten on very well with the "lions and the bears" of the +past, but how was he to deal with this two-headed "Philistine" under +whose dominion he had now come? He was resolved on one thing--Karin +should hear no complaints from him. She should not be worried by the +little boy she had taken in among her own to be so wonderfully happy. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +A YOUNG TEACHER. + +Nono and Uncle Pelle had been working a whole morning in the garden at +Ekero under Alma's direction. She was going to have a parterre of her +own, according to a plan she had been secretly maturing. Now it was +the time of mid-day rest, and she was prepared to give Nono his first +lesson; a kind of Sunday school on a week day she meant it to be, and +of the most approved sort. Alma had chosen for herself a rustic sofa, +with a round stone table before her, and behind her the trunk of a huge +linden, with its branches towering high over her head. Opposite her +was Nono, on a long bench, awaiting the opening of the Bible and the +big book that lay beside it. Alma, tall, and fair, and slight, looked +seriously at Nono, small, and dark, and plump, sitting expectant, with +his large eyes fixed upon her. + +Alma paused a moment, and then looked towards one of the grass plots +that made green divisions in the well-kept vegetable-garden. There sat +Uncle Pelle, his round woollen cap on his head, his red flannel sleeves +drawn down to his wrists, while his coat lay over his knees. Uncle +Pelle was very careful of his health. He did not want to be a trouble +and a burden to Karin. He held a little, thin, worn book, over which +he was intently poring. He did not look up until Alma spoke his name. +Perhaps she had thought that he might be feeling lonely there by +himself, or perhaps she fancied that she had prepared too rich a dish +of instruction for little Nono to receive alone. At least she had +sprung hastily towards the old man. "What are you reading here by +yourself, Uncle Pelle?" she said pleasantly. + +Pelle turned to the title-page, showing it to her, and then placed the +book in her hand, open to where he had been reading. Her eye fell on +the passage his long finger pointed out to her. "Use your zeal first +towards yourself, and then wisely towards your neighbour. It is no +great virtue to live in peace with the gentle and the peaceable, for +that is agreeable to every one. It is a great grace and a vigorous and +heroic virtue to live peaceably with the hard, the bad, the lawless, +and with them who set themselves in opposition to us." Alma's eyes +flashed along the lines, and her conscience pricked her with a sharp +prick. She handed the book back to old Pelle, and said quite +modestly,-- + +"I was going to give Nono a little lesson there under the tree. I have +some nice Scripture pictures, too, that you would perhaps like to see." + +"Thanks," said old Pelle, getting up slowly, and falteringly following +the slight figure that flitted on before him. + +Pelle took his seat beside Nono. They both clasped their hands and +closed their eyes. Alma was taken by surprise. She saw what they +expected before this "Bible lesson"--a prayer, of course! No prayer +came to her lips. "God help us all! Amen!" she said at last. "Amen!" +came solemnly from her companions. + +Alma was so disturbed by this little occurrence that her whole plan for +her lesson went out of her mind. She turned with relief towards the +great book, where her mother had placed in order photographs of some of +the most beautiful pictures illustrating the life of our Saviour that +the world can boast. Alma had meant to explain and expound, but she +continued silent. As old Pelle and Nono looked reverently on as she +turned page after page, their faces glowing with reverent interest, now +and then they exchanged meaning glances or a murmured word; which +plainly showed that they understood the incidents so beautifully given +by the great artists of the past. When they came to the Christ on the +cross, their hands clasped themselves as if involuntarily, and a great +tear found its way down Pelle's worn face. The scene was really before +him. He felt himself standing on Calvary, beside the cross of his +Master. + +There was a long pause. Then Alma turned slowly the next page. There, +a modern artist had pictured the bright angels falling adoringly back, +as the Saviour, shining in his glory, burst forth from the tomb. + +"Risen!" said Nono joyously, with the relief of childhood that the sad +part of the holy story had now been told. + +Alma passed on to the representation of the ascension. Pelle looked at +it, his eyes beaming. He raised his long finger and pointed to where a +bright cloud was for the moment half veiling the sun. "So he went, and +so he shall come again. Blessed be the name of the Lord!" burst from +the old man's lips. He was still looking towards the skies, as he +added, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" He bowed his aged head and sat +silent, with clasped hands. Nono and Alma followed his example. When +they looked up an astonished beholder had been added to the group under +the linden. + +"How are you, Uncle Pelle?" said the voice of Frans, as he took the old +man cordially by the hand. Pelle looked at him confusedly for a +moment, and then, with apparent difficulty, brought his thoughts back +to this world, and responded to the pleasant greeting. + +"Nono is to go fishing with me. I've been to the cottage, and got +permission from Mother Karin. I knew the little brownie would not stir +an inch without her leave.--So now, Nono, we are off for a good fish, +and then a good supper for you and me.--Your highness will excuse me +for interrupting your little meeting," added Frans, with mock +politeness. "I hope it has been profitable to all parties." + +Alma compelled herself to keep silence, and to respond pleasantly to +the thanks of Pelle and Nono for what they called "the nice lesson." +They neither of them understood that they had been the teachers, and +the fair, slight girl their humble and abashed pupil. + +Alma took her Bible in her hand, and went into the house to send a +servant for the great album that lay on the stone table. She sat down +in her room in a most disturbed frame of mind, ashamed of her first +effort as a teacher, and irritated that Nono should have come under the +very influence she would have most dreaded for him, even that of her +own brother. + +Then came a voice from below gently calling "Alma." The loving part of +her nature at once took the upper hand, and the fond daughter went down +to her father, ready to do anything he could ask of her for his joy or +comfort. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +IN ALMA'S ROOM. + +The day after the Bible lesson Alma threw herself heartily into her +plan for her parterre, at which Pelle and Nono were busily working. In +the midst of a large velvet patch of closely-cut grass she had a great +parallelogram marked out which was to represent the Swedish flag. The +blue ground was to be of the old Emperor William's favourite flower, +while the cross stretching from end to end was to be of yellow pansies. +The Norwegian union mark in the corner was to be outlined in poppies of +the proper colours. + +There was a slight twinkle in the old man's eyes as he watched Alma, +all enthusiasm, flitting hither and thither, and ordering and planning +like an experienced general, while it was plain to Pelle that she was +as yet but a novice in the mysteries of gardening. He did venture to +hint modestly that it was late--the middle of July--to begin such an +undertaking. Alma took no notice of his discouraging hints, but went +on expatiating as to how charming it would be to have the Swedish flag +lying there on the green grass, and how her father would enjoy it, +loving his country as he did, and being a real soldier himself. A +soldier the colonel certainly was by profession; but he had had other +enemies to meet than the foes of his native land. He had struggled +long with sorrow and ill-health, his constant portion. Exiled from +Sweden for the sake of his delicate wife, and that he himself might be +under the care of eminent physicians who understood his complicated +difficulties, he had still continued a warm Swede at heart. Now he +considered himself stronger; and did it mean life or death for him, the +north should be his home, and his children should learn to love the +land of their forefathers. His native language he had never allowed +them to lose, even when far away from the bright lakes and clustering +pines of the country so dear to him. A war against all that could +injure his fatherland the colonel had all the time been waging with his +skilful pen. By sharp newspaper articles and spirited papers in +magazines he had cast himself into whatever conflict might be going on +in Sweden, and had so had his own share of influence at home. He had +read the Stockholm journals as faithfully as if he had been living in +sight of the royal palace. + +As to her father's being charmed with her plan for her flower-bed, Alma +was confident. She would not listen to Pelle's suggestion that the +flowers would hardly blossom richly at the same time, and those blue +weeds would in the end quite overrun the garden. She had no +misgivings, but walked about with a peculiar air of determination in +her slight, very slight figure. + +Alma's whole person gave the impression of extreme fragility, sustained +by strength of will. It was the same with her delicate face, haloed +round by her sunny hair, ready to float in every breeze. The small +mouth was thin and decided, and the large, full blue eyes could be soft +or stern as the passing mood prompted. They were very gentle as she +looked at Nono when the noonday rest came, and told him he might come +into the house with her, as perhaps she could help him a little about +his writing in her own room. + +Nono would have preferred at that moment to consume the hearty lunch +Karin had provided for him, but he followed submissively. Pelle looked +after the pair as he went to his favourite seat. Somehow the decided +figure of the young girl always touched him. There was something about +her that made him uneasy for her, body and soul. + +Nono looked despairingly at his shoes, fresh from the flower-bed, as he +came to the wide doorway through which Alma had beckoned to him to +follow her. It was in vain he tried to put his feet into proper +condition by gently rubbing them on the mat that he thought fit for a +queen to step on. The colour dashed to his brown cheeks as he saw the +marks he had left on it. He could but tiptoe after Alma as she entered +the, to him, sacred precincts of the "big house" at Ekero. + +Alma felt young and guilty as she met a stout, elderly woman on the +stairs, as she went up with Nono. + +"It's the little Italian boy I saw baptized," she said apologetically. + +"I've seen many children baptized, Miss Alma, and paid respect to what +was doing, I hope, but I don't have them trudging up and down the grand +staircase--no, not even when the colonel is away in foreign parts. +Miss Alma must do as she pleases, but I'd like the colonel to know that +I see things in order as far as I can. I can't be responsible for boys +like that leaving tracks like a bear behind them." + +The comparison to the bear was not meant to be personally offensive +towards Nono, though he always felt that with Bruin he was specially +connected. He had indeed, in his caretaking, not left marks like a +human being as he had tiptoed along, leaving round traces on the +shining floor and stairs, as if a four-footed creature had passed. + +Nono was not much accustomed to harsh words, and the reproaches of the +faithful housekeeper increased his awe of the place, where he felt +himself a decided intruder, though following the young mistress at her +express command. + +Nono was even more disturbed in mind when he was seated at a beautiful +little writing-table, and requested to write on a fair sheet of paper +laid before him. The first verse of a hymn was dictated to him from +the prettiest little psalm book imaginable. His writing was really +wonderful for a boy of his age. The letters were clear and round, and +almost graceful, with here and there a little flourish of his own +invention, added in his desire to do his best. + +[Illustration: "The first verse of a hymn was dictated to him."] + +Alma was quite disappointed when she saw that there was no field here +for her instructions. She could hardly write better herself, and by no +means as legibly. She was aiming at a flowing hand, and her efforts +but showed that her character was yet too unformed to attempt such a +dashing style with the pen. + +On nearer examination, Nono's spelling was found to be most +exceptionable. + +"Have you never been taught spelling at school, Nono?" asked Alma, very +seriously. + +"Oh yes!" he answered cheerfully, and forthwith drew himself up as he +stood, and recited the rules for the various ways in which the English +sound "oh" may be represented in Swedish, giving the proper examples +under the rule. This little Nono could rattle off in grand +school-recitation style, though these etymological gymnastics never +bore on his practices as a writer. + +Of such rules Alma knew nothing. She had learned Swedish spelling on +quite another principle. For years she had copied a Swedish poem every +day for her father (whether with him or away from him), in pretty +little books, which were in due time presented to him with the +inscription at the beginning, "From his devoted daughter." + +Alma now gave Nono the "psalm book," and bade him copy the hymn +carefully. He did not dare to touch the dainty little volume, for his +hands were far from immaculate after his morning's work. He managed, +though, with his knuckles to steady it against Baxter's "Saints' Rest" +and "Thomas à Kempis," which in choice bindings found their place among +Alma's devotional books, more in memory of her mother, to whom they had +belonged, than for any special use they were to the present owner. + +Nono's copy proved fair and correct, for he had the idea that whatever +he did must be done well. He signed his name, and put the date below, +as he was requested, adding a superfluous supplementary flourish, like +an expression of rejoicing that the trial was over. + +On one side of the table was a little porcelain statuette that fixed +his attention. On an oval slab lay a fine Newfoundland dog, while a +boy, evidently just rescued from drowning, was stretched beside him, +the dank hair and clinging clothes of the child telling the story as +well as his closed eyes and limp, helpless hands. + +"Is he really drowned? is he dead?" asked Nono, forgetting all about +the spelling, as did his teacher when she heard his question. + +"That is one of my treasures, Nono," she said. "The princess gave it +to my mother. She modelled it with her own hands--the group after +which this was made, I mean. You have heard about the good princess, +Nono?" + +Nono shook his head and looked very guilty. He knew the king's name, +and believed him to be quite equal to David; but as to the queen and +all the "royal family," he was in most republican ignorance. + +Now Alma had something she liked to talk about. Perhaps she was +willing that even Nono should know that her own dear mother had been +intimately acquainted with a princess, and had loved her devotedly, and +been as warmly loved in return. Alma even condescended to tell Nono +that it was the princess who had first led her dear mother to a true +Christian life; which high origin for religious influence Alma seemed +to look upon as if it were a sort of superior aristocratic form of +vaccination. Alma went on to describe the saintly princess as she had +heard her spoken of by both her father and her mother, whose respect +and affection she had so justly won. + +How the image grew and fixed itself in Nono's mind of a real, living +princess who sold her rich jewels to build and sustain a home for the +sick poor! He heard how she, in her own illness, surrounded by every +luxury, could have no rest until she had planned a home where they too +could have comfort and tender care. The dark eyes of the listener grew +moist as he heard of the hospital the princess now had for crippled and +diseased children, where they were made happy and had real love as well +as a real home. + +Nono was a happy boy when he went out from Alma's room with a little +engraved likeness of the princess in his hand, and a glow of warm +feeling for her in his fresh young heart. For certain private reasons +of his own, she seemed very near to him, and the thought of her was +peculiarly precious. + +When old Pelle and Nono were going home that evening, he produced his +little likeness of the princess, and told Pelle all about her. + +Pelle's eyes sparkled, and he said as he rubbed his hands together, +"That princess does belong to the royal family! She is a daughter of +the great King!" + +"May I put her up in your room, Uncle Pelle?" asked Nono. "I do not +quite like to have her in the cottage, where the children can get at +her. They might not understand that this is not like any other +picture." + +"That you may," said Pelle; "and come in to see her, too, as often as +you please. A sick princess and a Christian too! She wouldn't mind +having her likeness put up in my poor place, if she is like what you +say. God bless her!" + +Nono had a way of taking what was precious to him to Pelle to keep, and +curious were the boyish treasures he had stored away in Pelle's room. +It had been a bare little home when the old man went into it, but he +had made it a cosy nest in his own fashion. Pelle had been for a time +a sailor in his youth, and had learned to make himself comfortable in +narrow quarters. A fever caught in a foreign port had laid him by, and +left sad traces behind it in his before strong body. Other and better +traces had been left in his life, even repentance for past misdoings +and resolutions for a faithful Christian course. As a gardener's +"helping hand" he had long gotten on comfortably; but illness and old +age had come upon him, and there had seemed no prospect for him but the +poorhouse, when Karin's hospitable door opened for him. + +The lawsuit was not settled, but it was well known in the neighbourhood +that Jan Persson had said Uncle Pelle should not go to the poorhouse +while he had a home. + +Pelle felt quite independent now, and he held his head straight as he +walked by Nono and talked about the good princess. Had not the young +lady at Ekero said she should need him straight on in the garden? for +she saw he knew all about flowers, and could be of real use to her. +Alma wanted to be a friend to Nono too, but she did not yet exactly see +how. There was something about the boy she did not quite understand. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +KARIN'S FÊTE. + +Nono was in disgrace. The twins had twice brought him before Karin, +his clothes all smeared with mud, as if he had purposely made his whole +person the colour of his brown face, and had given his hands rough +gloves of a still darker hue. Of course he had at first been sternly +reprimanded, for Karin suffered no such proceedings in her neat +household. The second reproof was more severe, and accompanied by the +promise of a thorough whipping if the offence were repeated. + +The long summer evenings gave a fine play-time for the boys, and then +Nono generally amused himself out of the way of the twins, who were +very despotic in their style of government. Again they had detected +him brushing himself behind the bushes, and dolorously looking at the +obstinate stains upon his cotton clothes. With a wild hollo they +seized the culprit between them, and hurried him along towards Karin, +who was cheerily examining her flower-beds under the southern windows, +and chatting meanwhile with Jan, who sat on the doorstep. + +Karin was both grieved and angry, and unusually excited. "Nono must be +whipped, and that soundly," she said emphatically to Jan. "This is the +third time he has come to the house in that condition. I won't have +him learn to disobey me that way." + +Jan got up slowly, and took from its hiding-place inside the cottage +something that looked like a broom-brush made of young twigs. It was +the family emblem and instrument of punishment, much dreaded among the +children; and with reason, for Jan had a strong hand and a sure one. +He had been accustomed to giving his own boys a thrashing now and then, +but on Nono he had never laid hands, as Karin's gentler discipline had +usually sufficed for her foster-son. + +The tears were in the eyes of the culprit, but he stood quite still, +and was at first speechless. At last he managed to say, "Don't whip me +here, Papa Jan; take me down to the shore, please." Jan generally had +his times of punishment quite private with the boys, the grove behind +the house being the usual place of execution. He could not, however, +refuse Nono's modest request. Off to the shore they went together, the +twins meanwhile shrugging and wincing, as if they themselves were +undergoing the ordeal, while they said to each other, "He'll catch it! +It won't feel good!"--not without some satisfaction, mingled with a +sense of the seriousness of the occasion. + +Little Decima, who had been a depressed looker-on at the proceedings, +buried her head in her mother's apron and cried as if she herself were +the victim. The little boys, no longer little, were hardened to +punishment, as they were often in disgrace for their wild pranks, but +the idea of Nono's being whipped seemed to have made them uncommonly +sober. Sven went into the cottage to look among his treasures for +something with which to console Nono on his return from the shore. +Thor was walking up and down, giving defiant looks at the twins for +their want of sympathy with Nono in his humiliation. There was a +sorrowful shadow over the whole family group that evening not common at +the golden house. + +To the surprise of all parties Jan soon appeared, holding Nono by the +hand, both apparently in a most cheerful humour. There were no tears +in Nono's face, and Jan looked down at him with peculiar tenderness. + +"Nono has not meant to be a bad boy," said Jan; "and I have forgiven +him, and I think you will have to forgive him too, Karin." + +"Dear, dear Mamma Karin, indeed I did not want to be a bad boy," said +Nono. "That would be hard, after all your kindness to me. Please, +please forgive me!" Nono put his arm round Karin as he spoke. She +looked doubtfully at him, but could not refuse the lips he put up to +her to be kissed in sign of full forgiveness. + +Sven, who had found a broken horse-shoe among his treasures, was rather +disappointed that he had lost the opportunity of consoling Nono with +his friendly gift. + +Decima laid her little hand in Nono's, and was about leading him off +the scene, when she was suddenly captured by her mother and hurried +into the cottage, with the exclamation, "Here's Decima up till this +time! One never knows when to put children to bed these summer +evenings. She'll be as cross as pepper in the morning if she don't get +her sleep out!" + +It was plain that Karin was not quite satisfied with the turn the whole +affair had taken. + +"Papa is too partial to Nono! It is a shame!" murmured the twins, as +they went off in a pout. + +The morning of the second day of August was warm and bright. When +Karin awoke, Jan was already up and out of the house. The children +were dressed in their holiday clothes, by their father's permission, +they said, their faces beaming with satisfaction. Karin was hardly in +order when Jan appeared and advised her to put on a white apron, which +she wonderingly consented to do, and then Jan led her off down to the +shore. Behind them the children followed in orderly procession. Old +Pelle brought up the rear, like the shepherd with the sheep going on +before him. + +Of the why and wherefore of all this ado the children had no idea. +Nono had assured them that their father approved of the whole thing, +and the proud and yet tender way that Jan was walking with Karin showed +that the affair had his full endorsement. + +On a green bank in a little cove in the shore Karin was ceremoniously +seated, and Jan placed himself at her side. + +The children threw into her lap their bouquets, each of a hue of its +own, to lie there like a jumbled-up rainbow. With Oke's bright flowers +from the pastor's garden fell a bank-note from the absent Erik, with an +inscription pinned to it in his usual lingo: "Mamma. From her gosse +Erik." (Nono had assured Oke it was best to keep the gift till the +second of August.) A few drops fell on the note and the bright flowers +from Karin's astonished eyes; but there was a sudden sunshine of joy +and wonder as Nono proceeded to take down the evergreen branches that +were leaned against the bank opposite to her. There, a deep arch had +been scooped into the hillside. In its sweet retirement there was a +tiny house of yellow pine, perfectly modelled after the family home, +the door open, and the flower-beds in their proper place under the +windows. In front of the house was a group, which all recognized at a +glance. "Perfect! Just as if he had seen it! Think! he could make +it, when he was only _so long_ at the time!" exclaimed Oke, his fingers +indicating a most diminutive baby. There was no contempt, but +unlimited admiration, in this mention of the infant Nono. + +[Illustration: The model house.] + +It was indeed a most successful bit of modelling. The picture that had +been so long in Nono's mind had taken form. Bear, and Italians, and +Swedes, and the very baby Francesca was raising high in the air for a +toss, were wonderfully living and full of expression. + +When the tumult of delight was subdued for a moment, Jan intimated, as +he had been requested, that Nono had something to say. + +What grandiloquence Nono had prepared never transpired. As it was, he +forgot his intended speech. His heart was in his throat; but he +managed to say that this was Katharina day in the almanac, and so Mamma +Karin's name-day, and the dear mother of them all ought, of course, to +be honoured. He had found some nice clay by the shore, which would +stay in any form he put it, and he had tried to make the group he had +thought so much about to show how thankful he was to have a place in +such a home. He had not meant to be careless, but when he got at his +work he forgot everything else, and so it had all happened. The last +time was the worst, when he had spilt the basin of water, just as he +was trying to make himself decent. Papa Jan had forgiven him, and he +hoped Mamma Karin would do so too, now she had heard all about it. He +really had not meant to be a bad boy. + +Karin caught the little Italian in her arms, while Jan looked down on +them benignantly, and the children roared an applause that came from +the depths of their hearts. They had never thought of celebrating +their mother's name-day. It had never even struck them that she had +one, as her name as they knew it was not to be found in the almanac. +As for themselves, each could remember some simple treat that had been +provided for his name-day--a row on the bay, pancakes after dinner, an +apple all round, a trip to the village, or some other favour calculated +to specially please the recipient and make all happy in the home. + +The children, all but Nono, had been sure to have their _fête_; for if +the name by which they were called in everyday life had no place in the +almanac, they had a luxury used only once a year which fixed their time +to be honoured--a second name that stood in the calendar. So Decima +had come to be a kind of D.D. in her way. She had been baptized Decima +Desideria, that she too might have a name-day and a celebration. + +Desideria was a royal name, and a kind of a queen too. Decima had been +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 Frans cosily sitting on the doorstep +beside Jan in his working dress, and his own not more presentable for +eyes polite. Frans enjoyed society where the laws of etiquette and the +dominion of fashion were unknown. + +"You here, Frans!" exclaimed Alma, with a sudden cloud on her before +smiling face. + +"You here, Alma!" answered Frans, starting up with affected surprise, +then offering to his sister with formal courtesy the seat he had +vacated at honest Jan's side. + +Jan took himself up too--a slow process for him after a day of hard +work. Bareheaded he stepped forward to welcome the young lady, who at +once explained the object of her visit. Nono, who had seen her in the +distance, now came to meet her, and willingly led the way to the shore. +Karin, who was weeding in the vegetable-garden, did not know of the +arrival of the guest. + +Alma's delight with the group exceeded Nono's expectations. She used +words about it such as she had heard her father employ in criticising +works of art, and quite soared beyond Nono's comprehension as well as +her own. The little house, just like Karin's cottage, charmed her +completely. "Did you really make it all yourself, Nono; the house, I +mean?" she said. + +"Uncle Pelle helped me about it a little," said Nono honestly. "I am +glad you like it." + +"I like it so much that I want just such a one, to be really my own, +but very, very much smaller it should be. I should like to use it as a +money-box, a kind of savings-bank. The chimney should be open all the +way down, so that I could drop the money in. The door should be +locked, and I should have the key. I have a lock from an old work-box +that would just do. Pelle could help you to fit it in, I am sure; he +is so handy about everything. Will you do it, Nono?" + +Of course Nono gladly said he would try; and then Alma added, "But I +want to see Pelle too, and Karin, and Pelle's room, and the cottage." + +"Pelle does not often let anybody come into his room but me," said Nono +hesitatingly; "but Mamma Karin will be pleased, ever so pleased, to see +you, I am sure." + +"Perhaps I had better come another time," said Alma, remembering that +Frans was on the premises, and not being at all sure what he might +choose to say while she was trying to make herself agreeable at the +golden house. So Alma made her way to the gate, escorted by Nono, and +only left a message for the family, who had all assembled in the +garden, which Frans was cheerily inspecting. + +Nono began at once to plan about the savings-bank for Alma, and was +much in deep consultation with Pelle. In the course of their +conversations on the subject, Nono heard from the old man how the +golden house came to be so very different from the usual red cottages +of Sweden. He felt it was like Karin not to have told him the story. +She had served as maid in her youth to an eccentric old lady, with whom +she had lived until she was married. When her former mistress was near +her end, and was gloomily looking forward to death, some words of +simple faith and hope she had once heard from Karin came now to her +mind like a new revelation, and the glad truths took deep root in her +troubled heart. An abounding gratitude to Karin at once took +possession of the dying woman, and she added an item to her will +providing that Karin, who was struggling along with her young family +about her, should have a bit of land of her own, and a cottage built +upon it, like those the testator remembered in the part of Sweden where +she had lived in her childhood. It should all be one great room up to +the roof, but very comfortable and convenient. It must not, though, be +red like any other cottage, but yellow at first, and always yellow; for +Karin had been as good as gold to her mistress, and better. So this +was the story of "the golden house," as the Italian had named it--a +name it had borne ever since. + +Bright yellow, and complete in all its appointments, was the little +house that Nono at last took to Alma. If not gold itself, something +golden, small and round, fell into Nono's hands as Alma received it. +"Now, Nono," she said, "that is your gift from your godmother, for I am +a kind of a godmother to you. It may be the last present you will have +from me. I am going to be very saving now, and lay up all the money I +can." + +Nono felt as if common Swedish words were hardly fit to express his +thankfulness, so he astonished Alma by dropping on one knee and kissing +her hand, as he had seen "a courtier saluting a queen" in a "history +book" he studied at school. + +Old Pelle, meanwhile, was looking on with the sharp twinkle in his eye +with which he watched many of Alma's proceedings. She knew he had been +consulting-architect as to the little cottage, but she could not help +calling on him now to admire it, saying, "Is it not a beauty, and just +like Karin's home?" + +Pelle leaned on his rake as he stood, and answered, "It is like it, and +it is not like it. People's faces can look like them even when they +are dead. That is a kind of a dead house to me with the door tight +shut. That isn't the way at the cottage. The door is always open, in +a way, there. It says, 'Come in; you're welcome.' If the Master up +there," and he raised his thin finger towards the skies, "was to say to +Karin, 'Where is the guest-room?' she'd likely point to the house, all +one great room inside. She'd make a mistake, though. Her guest-room +is in _here_, where she let the Master in long ago." Pelle laid his +hand on his breast, where he supposed his honest old heart to be +beating. He may not have located it right physiologically, but +something whispered to Alma that the old man spoke the truth as he +added emphatically, "The guest-room is the heart, to my thinking; and +when the right Guest gets in there, sharing is easy, and a man or a +woman grows free and friendly like." + +Pelle began to work very diligently, raking the newly-cut grass as if +he had had his say in the matter and had no more time for talking. + +Alma went into the house with the savings-bank in her hand. A +savings-bank it proved to be as the months went on, with a very strong +draught down the little chimney. Alma had been in earnest when she had +said she meant to be economical. Her firm will was now set in that +direction. Coin after coin was dropped into the chimney, as swallow +after swallow sinks into similar quarters when a summer night comes on. +The accumulating store lay in secrecy and in stillness, save when Alma +now and then made the little house shake as if an earthquake threatened +it with destruction, while she listened delightedly to the jingling and +rattling within. She wished often that she had asked Nono to make real +windows with glass in them, through which she might have feasted on her +treasure. She did not like those little black pasteboards based with +white, and the pots of flowers painted behind them to simulate Karin's +geraniums. + +Every Saturday evening Pelle came to be paid for his labours of the +week. His gains were duly handed over to Karin, and then Pelle went to +his little room, where he walked up and down, holding his head as high +as the ceiling would permit, in the comfortable consciousness that he +had turned his back on the poorhouse, and yet was not a burden at the +cottage. + +The colonel had provided the money for Pelle from the first, and now +Alma had asked him to do the same for Nono, as she had something +particular in view for which she was saving all she could spare. The +colonel looked inquiringly, but received no answer to his questioning +glance. He was accustomed to Alma's having her plans and her whims and +fancies; and as they generally did no harm, he was not in the habit of +examining particularly into them. It would even be a pleasure to him +to pay Nono's wages personally. He liked the little brown boy who made +him think of the sunny south, and could not pass him in the garden +without giving him a pleasant word or a friendly nod. It pleased him +to think there would now be a new link between them. A silver link it +proved in a small way to Nono, who had no reason to complain of the +change. The little Italian did, however, half realize that Miss Alma +did not notice him quite in the same way as at first; but he was +thankful for the friendliness of the past, for his pleasant home, and +for steady work, and life was very bright to him now that the twins +were more his protectors than his tyrants. + +Frans was not at all pleased with the new system of economy. Alma had +always been ready to give or to lend to him from her own private purse +when he was "short of money," for the construction of his machines or +for any of his various undertakings. She had often scolded him for +being thriftless and reckless, but had been as liberal with her loans +and gifts as with her reproaches. He was fairly astonished when his +birthday came round to receive from her an old book of her own, with +the fly-leaf torn out, and an inscription written on the title-page, +"Frans. From his devoted sister." + +"Much devoted!" he said with a shrug, as he looked at his present, a +nicely-bound book, truly, and containing much good advice, but conveyed +in such long words and long sentences and such very small print that +Alma herself had never been able to read it. "What's got into you, +Alma?" he added hastily; "you seem to be drawing off from me, every +way, as fast as you can. I wonder if you will stop calling me Frans +one of these days, and pretend you are no sister of mine. You know I +don't care for this thing! I'm not much of a reader, any way, and +books are not much in my line, unless they are about travels or +machines or something that grows or crawls. You are all the sister I +have, and I wish sometimes you would find it out!" + +Frans did not wait for an answer, but ran off to thank the housekeeper +for the big cake she had made for him, and the flower-decked table on +which it had been placed. He wanted to thank his father, too, for the +neat little cupboard that had been placed in his room for his cabinet, +with lock and key, glass doors, and plenty of shelves, just as he would +have wished it. + +The colonel was not well, and had not yet appeared. Perhaps he wanted +to see his boy first, alone, on his birthday. + +Frans looked quite tender and softened when the interview was over. He +was convinced that his father, at least, did love him very dearly, in +spite of the trouble he was always giving. "Suppose--suppose," he +thought to himself--"suppose I should turn over a new leaf, and really +try to be better!" + +He passed out into the garden and chanced to look up at Alma's window. +She stood there with the yellow cottage in her hand, and was dropping +something down the chimney. "There goes my present, I daresay," he +thought, and again the bitter mood was uppermost, in spite of his +father's kind words and the charming new home for his cabinet. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE SLIDE. + +Not the angel of death but the angel of beauty seemed to have made his +rounds in the night. Not a tree nor a shrub had been passed by. The +very dried weeds by the roadside were clothed in fairy garments. It +was as if nature had been suddenly purified, exalted, made ready for +translation. Alma looked out through her window,--not on the dark old +oaks or the bare slender birches of yesterday. In feathery whiteness +the oaks stood up before her, their hoary heads a crown of beauty, as +in a sainted old age. The graceful birches stood in "half concealing, +half revealing" pure drapery, as if shrouded in a bridal veil. + +Round Karin's home the solemn evergreens had lost their gloom, and the +white-robed branches drooped, as if to cast a double blessing on the +passer-by. + +Four noisy boys stormed out from the cottage door with a glad shout. +They saw nothing of poetry or beauty or mystery in the wonders the +hoar-frost had been working. They but remembered they were in the +midst of the Christmas holidays, and to-day they were to finish, under +the direction of Frans, the packing of the snow slope that led down to +the frozen bay. There they were all to have a splendid time coasting +on the long new sled that all had been busy in perfecting. "She," as +the boys said, was a "grand affair," a "regular buster." + +Similar thoughts had been uppermost with Nono, but they had now taken a +different form. He was still inside the cottage, coaxing Karin to let +Decima have her share in the frolic. He would hold fast to her +himself, he said, and see that she came to no harm. + +By two o'clock in the afternoon the slide was ready. Many hands had +made light work, and Frans had proved an admirable engineer. He now +took his place on the long sled as steersman and captain of the whole +affair. Decima, rolled in her mother's red shawl, was placed in the +midst of the group of merry boys, Nono's willing arms holding her as +firmly as it was possible to grasp such an uncertain kind of a bundle. + +All went on merrily. Far out on to the ice-covered bay the great sled +rushed with wonderful swiftness. Then there was the return trip +uphill, Decima riding with only Nono beside her, as her humble +servitor, to keep her steady. + +The sport went on and time flew by. Grown more and more daring, the +strong heels of the boys urged on the descending sled till it moved at +the pace of a swift locomotive. Suddenly there came a clumsy +old-fashioned sleigh along the shore road, which crossed the slide at a +right angle. Frans braked with heel and staff, and the other boys in +vain did their best to help him. The sled struck the sleigh, and was +emptied in a moment. The boys who were unencumbered fell here and +there in the soft snow or on the road. Nono held desperately fast to +his precious bundle, but could not save little Decima. While the rest +of the party were jumping up and rubbing their bruises, or declaring +they were "all right," Nono, half stunned, lay helpless with little +Decima still in his arms. She was screaming terribly, and would hardly +submit to being lifted up by the boys, even when Nono had rallied and +was giving her a helping hand. + +The accident was followed by a weary, sorrowful time at the cottage. +Decima's broken leg was set by the doctor, and she was laid on the box +couch, her usual bed, with a brick dangling from her ankle to keep the +injured limb straight while it was healing. + +If Decima had been a queen before, she now became a despot of the most +arbitrary sort. She was not patient by nature, and as to her habits of +obedience, they seemed broken as well as her leg. There was no limit +to her exactions. Her brothers she treated like worthless slaves, and +they soon learned to keep out of her reach, and when possible out of +the cottage. Nono spent his spare time faithfully beside her, +contriving all sorts of devices for her amusement. Frans looked in +often to see how she was getting on, and never came empty-handed. +There was always some special sweet bit to please her, or a "picture +book," or an apple, or a dainty plate of food begged from the +housekeeper. + +Once, when Frans was going to the village, Alma had thought of +commissioning him to buy a doll, a prettily-dressed doll, for Decima; +but she checked herself, almost as if the idea had been sinful, and +that day a special contribution found its way down the chimney of her +treasure-house. Notwithstanding the kindness of Frans to the little +patient, he did not find her an angelic sufferer, even as far as he was +concerned. She became more and more fastidious as to his presents, +always expecting some gift more novel and beautiful than the last. +Frans made all kinds of jokes about her "decimal fractiousness," which +were noisily appreciated by the young arithmeticians at the cottage. +Nono alone could not laugh at anything which concerned Decima's +misfortune, for which he considered himself in a manner accountable. + +The great undivided room of the interior of the cottage was now a sore +trial for Karin. The door seemed to be always ajar, Decima declaring +she felt a draught wherever she was placed. At last the boys went out +one day and left the door wide open, with poor little Decima alone in +the room, with a rush of keen air blowing upon her. Of course she took +cold, and Karin was quite in despair. The child began to complain that +the boys always were making a noise, and the dishes rattled so they +hurt her. It was in vain that Karin tripped about with the utmost +care; her lightest steps, Decima said, shook the whole floor. As for +Jan and the boys, they were for ever doing something that made the +little patient's head ache or that put her in a bad humour. The doctor +finally said he did not see how Decima was to get well in that room, +with that noisy family about her. It might do for well folks to live +so packed together, but to be sick in such a place was another question. + +Karin, with her usually cheerful face all clouded, went one day to old +Pelle's room for comfort, as she had often done before. He did not +say, though he thought it, that his own little den was none of the +warmest, or he would take Decima there. He was thankful for the +shelter, such as it was. He proposed nothing for the child's comfort, +but reminded Karin that little Decima 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 +quizzical shrugs and wry faces and many misgivings. + +It had struck Jan at once that one of the older boys would have been +much better fitted for such a trip than little Nono; but what would +they dare to say to a princess? They would perhaps never be allowed to +get into the palace at all. Nono, with his pretty ways and bright +black eyes, would be sure to get in anywhere. Karin had made him neat +enough to come into anybody's house. And as to his telling his story, +he could talk like a book when he got started, and make his hands talk +too, if he chose. + +Old Pelle's eyes had glistened when he heard of the plan. When he bade +Nono good-bye, he had begun the boy's favourite text, "He who delivered +me from the lion and the bear--" He stopped, and then added, "The +princess is no Philistine, but one of the Lord's anointed, I am sure. +She is the great King's daughter! You know what I mean, Nono." + +Nono did understand, and went out strengthened. He knew he had Uncle +Pelle's approval and his blessing on his errand. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A PEDESTRIAN TRIP. + +Nono had not started alone on his trip to Stockholm. He had with him a +companion as lively as himself. A black companion it was, and with a +voice that could vary from the deepest bass to the highest treble, not +only at will, but at the word of command. Alas! this companion had a +ring in his nose like a heathen islander, though he had been born in a +Christian country, and had enjoyed unusual advantages for education. +He was accustomed to be washed, and to be dressed on occasion, and he +took his food most respectably considering his ancestry. If he were +not "learned," as some of his race had been, he was at least a most +accomplished and amusing companion. Nono had tried hard to make his +pet a biped; but the creature was not ambitious of being promoted to +walking upright like man, though he could stand on two legs as stiffly +as any statue, at least for a few moments. He knew he was after all +but a little black pig, with a ring in his nose (as a punishment for +rooting), and submitted humbly to being led, and tried to obey his +master's least command as far as his intelligence permitted. + +When the little black pig had made his appearance at the colonel's, in +the midst of six rose-coloured brothers, everybody had been reminded of +Nono among the fair-haired children at the golden house. Frans at once +declared that the eccentric pig ought to belong to the little Italian, +and the present had been finally made, with all due ceremonies, and an +appropriate speech from Frans, which won great applause from the +auditors. Blackie then and there received his name, which he had ever +since retained, and to which he seemed willing to bring honour. + +Nono had made his pet a rustic home of his own, and had resolved from +the first that Blackie should be something remarkable. Oke had +described to the boy the learned pigs about which he had read, and Nono +betook himself in earnest to the education of Blackie, and found his +efforts crowned with amazing success. + +Karin had looked rather gloomy at first about piggie's being destined +to an exceptional career, but she relented when she saw what innocent +merriment he had introduced into the family. Jan was never too tired +to laugh as heartily as the boys to see Blackie giving his hard paw to +be shaken, or singing or scolding according to the words of command. +If the order were "Scold, Blackie!" he scolded to perfection in his +grunting way. If it were "Sing, Blackie!" he laid his head +sentimentally on one side, and gave a succession of shrill squeals that +brought forth from the listeners a glad round of applause. Blackie's +everyday dress was provided by nature, and was dusky of course, but +scrupulously brushed--a process which he evidently considered an +agreeable luxury. + +Blackie had been taken to the yearly fair in a red flannel blanket +pointed at the edges, that an elephant might have been proud to wear if +it had suited his proportions. Nono had exhibited his pet thus +attired, and his accomplishments were so well rewarded that Karin +received in advance full pay for Blackie's winter accommodation, to +Nono's infinite satisfaction. + +Nono had not thought of taking Blackie as a companion in his pedestrian +trip until he was passing the home of his pet, after bidding good-bye +to the elders of the family. The traveller had been suddenly struck +with the thought that Blackie might chance to serve instead of a long +purse for the exigencies of the journey, and it would be best to take +him, as private property, to supply the possible needs of the uncertain +future. + +It may be that it had unconsciously seemed dreary to the little Italian +to start out into the great world alone, and that a four-footed friend +would be better than none. The plan promised to prove a good one; for +Blackie was a companion who, though he said little, required too much +attention for his master to have many anxious thoughts. Accomplished +as piggie certainly was, he was evidently puzzled as to Nono's +intentions, and constantly suggested in his own way that the walk had +been long enough, and it was time to turn back to the golden house. +After a sharp contention on this subject, the travellers came in sight +of a house which Nono fancied would suit his purpose, for he rightly +guessed that Blackie's appetite had been sharpened by the long walk in +the fresh air. Most abundant refreshments for boy and beast were given +on the one side, and on the other a whole family had a hearty laugh to +promote their own digestion. Blackie could not have done better if he +had fully realized the importance of the occasion. + +Towards twilight the glad jingling of bells rang out on the air--a +perfect concert of its kind. A train of sleighs drawn by prancing +horses came dashing down a long hill that Nono could see in the +distance, as he trudged over a level stretch below. Nono stepped out +into the soft snow as the first sleigh was almost upon him, the pace of +the horses being prudently slackened at the sight of the uncommon +impediment in the road. Nono took off his hat and bowed, while his +face gleamed with delight at the pretty display--the festal white nets +of the horses, and the fur-covered sleighs where the merry party were +so comfortably stowed. + +When Nono bowed, at a motion from him the pig did the same, standing in +his very best way, if not in most graceful court fashion. The little +dark figures on the background of snow brought forth a cheery peal of +laughter, as sleigh after sleigh passed by with nods and shouts of +approval. Some self-sacrificing lover of children first managed to get +his hand into his pocket under the wraps; so came, by example, from one +and another a small rain of copper, with now and then a silver bit for +company. Nono and Blackie plunging round in the snow to pick up the +treasures (Blackie hoping for a dainty morsel, and Nono eager that +nothing should be lost) made a funny little roadside scene that sent +the gay party on their way even more merry than before. + +Nono was not sure that he had gathered up all the results of this +unexpected exhibition, but he soon felt obliged to resume his march, as +the night was coming on rapidly. Blackie introduced him pleasantly to +a little shoemaker, who came up from behind and joined the two +pedestrians. Of course he asked Nono all manner of questions, and got +true replies, as to where he was going and why. The hardy shoemaker +had a leather apron over his heart, but the heart in his broad breast +was honest and kind. Nono and Blackie were taken into his poor +cottage, and were free to sleep in its one room, where he and his wife +and two children, and the leather and the shoes to be mended, and much +more of a nondescript nature, were huddled together. + +In the morning Nono was assured that one day's more walk would bring +him near to Stockholm. That was a trifle, the shoemaker said. He had +walked as far as that to church every Sunday, when he was young, and +lived up in the north, where the snow was not to be sneezed at, and the +night lasted almost all day, as he inconsistently expressed it. + +As to visiting the princess, the shoemaker assured Nono that was sheer +madness. A boy like him would hardly dare to look any of the royal +family in the face, he was certain. He had never heard anything +particular about the princess, to be sure, but high folks didn't like +to be bothered. He advised Nono to show Blackie in the streets. That +might bring him a bit of money; and if worst came to worst there was +begging, not a bad business in Stockholm he had heard. Money was to be +made that way, no doubt, by such a chap as Nono, who had such a pretty +story to tell. + +The shoemaker meant no harm, after his way of looking at life; but Nono +drew himself up straight, and said he believed he should see the +princess, he knew about her, and she was almost an angel. He might +have added, if he had spoken his thoughts, that he felt acquainted with +her after a fashion, and that, further, he hoped he should never come +to begging while he was able and willing to work. Nono could pay for +food and lodging for himself and Blackie without drawing on Jan's +coppers, and he set off full of courage. The shoemaker and his wife +had been kind, and he thanked them in his heart, as he had with his +lips, at parting, but he felt more and more grateful for his home in +the golden house. Nobody ever swore there, or tipped up a black bottle +with something strong in it. And how clean it was always, and how cosy! + +The shoemaker's discouraging words had, however, been for Nono much +like the chilling mist that surrounded him when he started on his +second day's journey. He suddenly thought of "the lion and the bear" +and "this Philistine," and he was again convinced that there would be a +blessing on his undertaking, and the dear princess would prove to be no +Philistine, but just what he had fancied her. + +As Nono drew nearer to Stockholm the cottagers seemed to be of a +rougher sort; and it was well that he had money to buy what he needed, +for nobody seemed to care to look at him or his piggie. When he tried +to tell his story about Karin and little Decima, and that he was going +to see the princess, he heard only rude shouts of derision or hard +words in reply. He got, however, leave to pass the night in a stable, +with Blackie beside him, with the parting good-night warning not to +steal off with the lent blanket in the morning. It would not have been +easy to slip off unobserved, for the stable was locked and barred, and +Nono was as safely imprisoned as if he had been in the common jail. +The friendly old cart-horse taught him no harm, and mumbled with +contentment as it cheerfully ate its humble fare, peering now and then +towards the dark corner where Blackie sang and scolded, as if for the +special entertainment of the host in the stable. + +By making payment in advance in the morning Nono got a glass of milk to +take with his hard bread, and Blackie had the same fare, which put him +in a good humour for the day. + +Nono was surprised to find that he felt a little shy about entering the +city, when he saw the spires shining in the morning sun and the houses +rising in close lines about them. The mist had fairly rolled away. +All nature was bright, but Nono had too solemn a sense of the greatness +and the extraordinary nature of his undertaking to be in anything but a +serious mood. + +He was in the outskirts of Stockholm, when some big apprentice boys who +were on their way to their work hailed him as he was in the midst of a +contention with Blackie, who seemed convinced that, with all his +accomplishments, he was not fit for city life, and it was best for him +to stay in the rural districts. The apprentices offered to help Nono, +which they did substantially, if subduing Blackie were the matter in +question. Two of them took him in their arms and held him firmly, +while Nono was ordered to tell honestly how that stylish little pig +came into his possession. Nono said simply that it was given to him, +and then hurried to tell the story of his errand. He was afraid of the +rough, dirty fellows, who had a wild, reckless look about them; and +they so interrupted him by loud laughs unpleasant to hear, that Nono +got confused, and really gave no very clear account of himself. + +The apprentices, putting on an air of mock respect, declared it was +quite impossible to go to see the princess with that little pig as a +companion, genteel a pig as he seemed to be. They could take care of +him, and Nono could call for him on the way home. They lived, they +said, in a house at which they pointed in the distant fields. Then +they started off in that direction as fast as their feet could carry +them, with Blackie held fast in the strong arms of the tallest of the +party. + +It was in vain that Nono called upon the retiring enemy. They shook +their fists at him and laughed mockingly, and called out that they +would "give it to him" if he undertook to follow them now. He could +call for piggie when he had seen the princess; and again they pointed +out the house towards which they seemed to be hastening. + +Nono felt inclined to sit down and cry by the roadside. It suddenly +struck him that these were Philistines, quite of the scoffing, Goliath +sort; but he was not to be discouraged by them, not he! It would have +been rather awkward to appear before the princess, in her beautiful +home, with Blackie beside him. There was truth in that at least. +Perhaps those wild fellows meant well after all. They might have been +just teasing him, as "the little boys" teased Decima sometimes, though +they really loved her at the bottom. Yes, Decima! he must not forget +that it was for her he had undertaken it all. In such a good cause no +"Philistines" should make him afraid. He was so far safely on his way. +He must thank God and take courage. And he did. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE PRINCESS. + +Jan had given Nono the strictest injunctions to ask questions only of +policemen when he had once entered the great city. Of course Nono +implicitly obeyed, and so was soon able to find the palace. What a +grand building he thought it, and how beautiful the bright water about +it! He was sure the world could show nothing more charming than the +home of the Swedish king. + +Nono would have trembled at the idea of entering the royal palace if he +had not remembered that the good princess, his princess, was there. He +had a friend within the castle. Not that the palace looked at all like +a fortified castle. Its plain, square sides were pierced by long rows +of rectangular windows, while on the water-front two long white wings +shut in a quiet garden. In one of these wings, he had been told, the +princess had her home. A sentinel was at the entrance of the vast +courtyard through which he had learned he must pass. The guard looked +so imposing that Nono almost trembled as he took off his felt hat and +asked the way to the part of the palace where the princess lived. The +sentinel condescended to point his finger towards the colonnade under +which the desired door was to be found. + +A lady was just ringing the bell. Nono watched her, and then closely +imitated her movements. The door flew open for him, too, as it had +done for her. A dignified, gray-haired man, in a livery Nono +considered quite royal apparel, looked inquiringly at the little +visitor. Nono asked simply to see the princess about a matter of +importance. He was shown into a room, where a fair-haired lady gave +him a kindly reception, and told him her royal highness would see him +in a few moments. + +What rich moments of waiting those were for little Nono! He stood as +if on enchanted ground. From the wall looked out faces of gentlemen +and ladies in gorgeous array. Real people they seemed to be, though +silent and quiet, as, encircled by bright frames, they condescended to +be looked at by the wondering, admiring black eyes that were fixed upon +them. There, too, were bits of nature brought into that rich +room--flashing waterfalls, and quiet pastures, and golden skies through +which Nono almost fancied he could see the heaven beyond. + +Nono stepped on the soft carpet without a thought of its strangeness to +his rustic feet. A vision of beauty had been vouchsafed to him, and +his eyes glanced from picture to picture, now glistening with delight +and now lost in rapt admiration. + +The fair lady, who had been watching him with amusement, soon told him +that he might now go in to her royal highness, but only for a few +moments, as this was her morning for receiving the poor, and as she had +many to talk with her she was very tired. + +Nono saw nothing of the room into which he was now admitted, nothing +but the tall, slender, stooping figure that came forward to meet him. +The painters have liked to give the angels golden hair, but this was to +Nono a black-haired angel. Smooth, dark, glossy bands framed in the +high, full forehead, while the delicate chin made a corresponding point +below. The large brown eyes were full of loving light, and the thin +mouth smiled a welcome before the lips had spoken it. + +"What have you to say to me, my boy?" said the princess. A weary look +quickly clouded her face, and she sank suddenly into an easy-chair, +saying, "I have had many visitors to-day, so you must say quickly and +plainly what you have to tell me." + +"Perhaps I had better come another day," said Nono. It grieved him to +see his princess look so weak and worn. Recollecting himself, he +added, "But I don't see how I could, for I have come just for this a +long way--from near Aneholm Church." + +"Aneholm Church!" exclaimed the princess, brightening. "I once had a +dear friend who lived in that neighbourhood. What do you want to tell +me?" + +It was hard for Nono to make his story short. He must go back to the +bear, and how he came to the cottage, or the princess would not +understand why he loved Karin and little Decima so, and why he felt he +must help them. The princess must hear, too, about the accident, and +how it was almost his fault, because he had insisted on having Decima +out with the boys. + +The princess soon forgot her weariness. This was no common beggar, +with sycophant whine and forced civility. Nono spoke freely, frankly, +and trustfully. She was some one good and powerful, who, he was sure, +would gladly help him. His dark eyes looked into hers as he stood +before her, while his words sprang from his heart, and his hands and +his whole figure helped to illustrate his story. When he came to +little Decima, the sister whom the brothers loved and took care of, who +played with the boys, and was the pet and darling of all, the whole +face of the listener was aglow. + +"I was just such a little sister!" exclaimed the princess. "I never +played with a doll in my life. I was the special pet with one of my +brothers, who loved me very dearly. We romped and we painted, and we +made clay figures together. I know what a brother can be!" and the +tears for a moment filled her eyes. She dashed them away, and told +Nono to go on with his story. + +Nono wanted to say that he had seen a beautiful thing the princess had +made, and that was one reason why he felt so acquainted with her, but +he wisely kept to Decima and what he wanted for her. + +When the princess heard of Decima's misfortune, and of the big room +where all the family lived, the boys always leaving the door open to +blow on the little patient, her heart was quite melted, as it had been +many times before, as she compared her own comfort with the +surroundings of the sick poor. She herself had been long an invalid, +and often for months a prisoner in her beautiful rooms. She put out +her arm towards Nono, who had drawn near to her in his eagerness, and +was now close at her side. Affectionately her white slender hand was +laid on the boy's, as she said,-- + +"Yes, Nono, your little Decima shall have a place in my home for sick +children. I will have the permit made out at once, and she can come as +soon as 'Mother Karin' can send her." + +The princess spoke aside to the fair lady, who began to write the few +words that were necessary, but stopped to ask Nono the full name of the +patient. + +"Decima Desideria Persson," was the prompt reply. + +"Desideria!" said the princess, with a pleasant smile. "That was my +grandmother's name, so the little girl half belongs to me to take care +of." + +"We don't call her Desideria," said Nono truthfully. "She had that +name because it stands in the almanac, and seemed to sound well with +Decima, Mother Karin thought; and besides, she wanted the only little +girl to have a name-day to keep as well as the boys.". + +Again the pleasant smile came into the face of the princess. She wrote +in a free and flowing hand her signature to the permit, which was duly +placed in an envelope and given to Nono. + +"Since Decima Desideria is to be my guest, I must pay for her journey," +said the princess. + +Nono received the generous gift, and dared to kiss the hand that gave +it. He was too full of joy and gratitude to express himself fully by +his murmured thanks. + +"I understand you, Nono," said the princess. "You can go now. Perhaps +we shall meet again, some day; perhaps up there, if we both love the +dear Lord and try to be his true children." The thin hand made a sweep +upwards towards heaven, whither Nono, child as he was, felt that his +princess was going, all too soon for the mourning hearts she would +leave behind her. + +So ended Nono's visit to the royal palace. The princess sank wearily +back in her chair when the fair lady had gone out with Nono. On her +mild face there was a shadow that betokened something more than +weariness. That little boy she had trusted so implicitly while she +looked into his clear eyes, what if he should prove an impostor? She +had had her own bitter experience from the falsehoods of the apparently +needy. "No! Nono is not an impostor, I am sure," she said to herself. +"Little Decima, no doubt, ought to be taken care of immediately." A +slight smile came over her thoughtful face as she recalled the unusual +name. + +The dignified old servant now brought in the letters from the morning +mails. The first that the princess opened was in an unfamiliar hand. +A cloud of sadness came over her, as a friend long in heaven was +recalled to her mind. The colonel had written, not to renew the sorrow +of the princess by reminding her of his lovely wife, but to say that he +had accidentally heard of Nono's departure, without credentials or +recommendations of any kind to insure her confidence. The letter +guaranteed the truthfulness and honesty of the boy, and contained warm +words in favour of the family at the golden house. + +The good princess was glad to be acquitted of rashness in her promise, +and was once more encouraged to love and to trust, and to give freely +out of her abundance. + +Little Nono had started cheerily on his homeward journey, grateful at +heart. He was hopeful as to finding Blackie at the house where he had +been assured his pet would be awaiting his return from the palace. +Nono was met there by rude answers to his eager inquiries, and was told +that no one had seen anything of a little black pig, nor did any one on +those premises wish to see anything more of a little dark boy full of +impudent questions. There was a sweep of meadows about the house, and +no other dwelling was near the spot. + +Nono could but disconsolately begin again his homeward walk, and try to +forget his pet in the thought of the future opening before little +Decima. He betook himself to the highroad, and trudged along as +cheerily as he could. Drops of blood on the snow suddenly arrested his +attention. They formed a regular line leading into the far distance, +where a familiar black object was getting over the ground at a +marvellous rate. It must be Blackie! Nono gave a long whistle by +which he was accustomed to call his four-footed friend. The black +object stopped. The whistle was repeated, and in a few moments the +little pig was awkwardly capering about his master, almost tying his +tail into knots, as it was twisted round and round as an expression of +delight. + +Blackie had evidently escaped from confinement and uncongenial society. +Where he had been, of course he could not tell. His poor nose was +sadly torn where the ring had been wrenched away as he broke loose from +his imprisonment. Nono was glad that Blackie had lost his badge of +servitude; and as to needing a rope to be led by, the poor creature was +willing enough to follow Nono wherever he might choose to lead him. A +kind countryman returning from the city with an empty waggon gave the +odd pair a good lift, and took them along so rapidly that towards +evening they reached the shoemaker's cottage. Nono thought best to be +set down there, and he was hardly on the ground with Blackie beside him +when there was an impromptu concert of singing and scolding that +brought the inmates of the house at once to the door. + +Of course the travellers were warmly welcomed. There was great +eagerness to hear Nono's adventures, and he was at once besieged with +all sorts of questions. When he had told his story, the shoemaker got +up and bowed respectfully to the absent princess, whom Nono had so +vividly described that she seemed actually standing there in the +cottage. "There be some good people left in high places!" exclaimed +honest Crispin. "It's of no use talking against the royal family while +such a princess is above ground." So some dim socialistic ideas that +had been troubling the mind of the poor shoemaker died a violent death, +and the warm loyalty of his youth took the upper hand. + +Nono and Blackie were hospitably housed for the night, and treated +almost as if they were ambassadors from court, with a flavour of +royalty about them. + +It is needless to tell with what joy the travellers were received the +next day at the golden house, or what rapid preparations were made for +Decima's departure. The princess should see that Jan and Karin were +prompt to avail themselves of her kindness. + +Jan took an unusual holiday, and actually was for the first time in a +railroad car, with Decima cuddled close at his side. + +Decima Desideria, who had a keen sense of her own fitness to come to +honour, really seemed to think the children's hospital had been +established for her special benefit, and that her presence there, and +the ado that had been made about her, were quite natural matters, with +which gratitude had very little connection. Once made mistress of one +of the little white beds, and surrounded by every comfort, her +arrogance and her exactions would probably have known no bounds, if she +had not wonderingly seen about her from day to day deformed children, +suffering children, and almost idiots, as tenderly cared for as +herself. It somehow came into her head to be thankful that she at +least had but to lie in her bed, without great pain, that she could +understand all that was said to her, and could even be learning to knit +and crochet, which she was doing with extreme satisfaction. + +How Decima longed to see the good princess! When at last that +much-talked-of princess came and stood by her bed, and beamed down love +and tenderness, the little invalid was softened into real gratitude, +which she managed brokenly to express, with tears in her eyes. Then +the kind princess talked to her cheerfully and naturally of the great +Shepherd of the lambs, as of some one whom she knew and who was really +dear to her. + +At the golden house religion had been lived and inculcated; at the +hospital it seemed the felt, ever-pervading atmosphere. Heavenly +comfort was sung in the sweet hymns, breathed in the trustful prayers, +spoken of as something always in mind, and acted out in the sweet +offices of love towards the unfortunate. Such surroundings were +life-giving to the poor little invalid. Her fretfulness gave way, and +a sweet quietness succeeded her nervous irritation. After the weary +turmoil of the past in the noisy, crowded home, there was now a serene +peace for her, as if the angels had taken her under their sheltering +wings. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +WHERE? + +Alma was sitting in her own room, with her treasure-house before her. +Its door was still fast locked, as was her purse for all applications +for pecuniary help. Closed, too, seemed the door of her heart to the +great Friend who still lovingly knocked without. His question, "Where +is the guest-room?" had been met by a long, unbroken silence. + +Now Alma's mind was on her future plans. She had shaken the little +cottage, and had been quite dissatisfied with the result. She rose +hastily. A drawer in her writing-desk was impulsively unlocked. She +took out a jewel-case where a diamond ring, and a brooch set with the +same precious stones, and a watch with a monogram in pearls, were lying +side by side. She looked admiringly at them, and carefully examined +them all. The ring, the brooch, and the little watch were then +deliberately let down the chimney of the golden house, as if they had +been black sweeps on a lawful errand. They were given, "offered," she +felt, and her design was now far on its way to its accomplishment. +There could be no more earthquake-like shakings of that cottage. That +amusement must be abandoned. + +There was a sharp prick from Alma's conscience in the midst of her +evident satisfaction. Her father had said this jewellery would some +day belong to her, and had even, at her special request, allowed her to +have the now sacrificed treasures in her own keeping. "They were to be +mine. They _are_ mine," she said to herself. "I have offered them. I +shall never wear them now. My mother in heaven would approve of what I +have done." Here her conscience gave her a cruel pang. She was +inclined to open again the velvet-lined box, and lay the jewellery +where it had so long rested, but that was impossible without opening +the little locked door of the treasure-house. That she had vowed to +herself she would not do before the time appointed--a time she was now +most anxious should soon arrive. + +At this moment Alma heard the sound of footsteps. She thrust the case +into its drawer, locked it and dropped the key into her pocket like one +disturbed in a dishonest act rather than in a noble deed. There was a +loud knock at the door. Alma opened it, and Frans stood before her. + +"What do you want here?" she said impatiently. + +"I can't find papa," said Frans. "I wanted to tell him that it went +'bully' for me at the examination this morning. I thought perhaps your +highness might like to know it too. The teachers seem to think I shall +stand 'tip-top' in my report." + +"I don't believe you will deserve it," said Alma sharply. "I never see +you studying." + +"But I have studied lately, more than I ever studied in my life. I +didn't go to bed a single night last week before one o'clock." + +"You ought to be ashamed to tell it!" said Alma reprovingly. "You know +papa don't allow you to sit up late." + +"I shall tell him about it myself, and I know papa will excuse me," +said Frans, in high spirits. + +The colonel did excuse Frans, and was delighted to hear of his success, +though he did not fail to say it was hard to make up by such forced +studying for neglect during the term, and a thing that he hoped would +never be needed again. + +Frans was in a glorious good-humour during the short time he allowed +himself for lunch, and made his pony fly as he hurried back to school +immediately afterwards. + +The school was in a village about twenty minutes' ride from the +colonel's home. The afternoon session was over, and yet Frans did not +return. The colonel was very anxious about his son. He feared that he +had been induced to celebrate his success in some wild frolic, and sent +in a messenger to search after him. + +The report came back that Frans had done very badly at school during +the latter part of the day, and had ridden off at full speed, evidently +in a very bad humour at his failure. + +Later in the evening the pony came home, riderless, and sorrow settled +on the household at Ekero. + +"It is only some foolish trick that Frans is playing upon us!" Alma had +said at first, but as the hours wore away she too had become really +anxious. + +The colonel, who went himself at once to the village, came home late, +discouraged and distressed. Telegraphing and sending off messengers in +every direction had been in vain. The morning brought terrible news. +A theft had been committed in a shop near the schoolhouse the evening +before, and an older pupil of bad repute had disappeared. It was +generally whispered that he and Frans had gone off together. + +Alma's feelings can easily be imagined. Shame, anger, righteous +indignation, and real distress were strangely mingled together. Her +father left home as soon as these horrible rumours were told him. Alma +was alone all day, save when she was called on to hear the moans of the +housekeeper over her "dear boy who had gone wrong; such a sweet boy as +he had always been towards her." + +At such a mention of himself Frans would have been much astonished, as +this faithful friend of the family had not failed to set his +shortcomings fully before him. She now reproached Alma for not making +home more pleasant for her brother, for "worrying and worrying at him +until he had no peace of his life. Such a knowing boy as he was, too, +with the ways and doings of beasts and birds at his tongue's end. As +for the Swedish kings, he could tell stories about them all a long +midsummer day, if a body had patience to listen. And _he_ not do well +at an examination!" and the housekeeper snapped her fingers in contempt +of the whole pedagogical corps. + +To these various forms of lamenting Alma listened in convicted silence. +She was glad of any company in the dismal loneliness of the house, and +felt she deserved much blame, if not all the burden of responsibility +that was cast upon her, for Frans's misdoings. + +The colonel had been unwearied in his efforts to find his son; but when +he was at last convinced that he had gone off in company with a boy +suspected of actual theft, he would not seek for his son to be brought +home to public trial and possible conviction. The authorities might +find the boys if they could, he would take no further steps in the +matter. + +The colonel locked himself into his room, and not even Alma's gentle +knock was answered. Like the housekeeper, he had a deep sense of +Alma's coldness and bitterness towards her brother, and he understood +how Frans must have dreaded to meet her after his disgrace at the +examination. He understood, too, how much Frans must have feared his +displeasure; but that such a mother's son should be so degraded as to +consort with a thief and possibly share his guilt! The thought was +madness. He pictured the desperate boy, flying perhaps to a far +country, to suffer, and sin and go down to the lowest depths of +degradation. The prayer burst forth from the depths of the colonel's +heart, "God have mercy on my son! God have mercy on me, a sinner!" +There was a thoroughgoing penitence in that closed room. The colonel's +whole life stood before him, with all its shortcomings and its sins. +To the world it had been an outwardly blameless life, but within there +had been an uncertain faith, a half-heartedness, an indecision in his +inner life, that ill befitted one who so well knew the love and purity +of his heavenly Father. He cast himself upon his knees, to rise +forgiven, and strengthened to lead a decided, devoted Christian life. +With his own humiliation came back his tenderness towards his absent, +erring boy. + +When the door was opened at last to Alma, she saw the traces of sorrow +and deep emotion on her father's face. She threw herself into his +arms, exclaiming, "Dear, dear papa!" She could say no more. He gently +closed the door by which she had entered. No human being ever knew the +words that then passed between them, but they were henceforward to be +bound together by a new and a holier tie than ever before. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE BIRTHDAY GIFT. + +In the midst of the shadow over the household at Ekero, Alma's birthday +had come. No festivities could be thought of. No birthday table was +decked for her with flowers and gifts. Her father had not even +remembered the fact that she was now eighteen years old until the +evening came on. The housekeeper, a thorough Swede in all things, +could not forget such an anniversary; but she was in no mood towards +Alma to prompt to any particular kindness in that direction, or any +festal preparations. + +The father and daughter were sitting quietly together in the study in +the evening. "Alma," he began, "I have just remembered that it must be +your birthday. It has been a sad, neglected birthday for you, my +child; but it shall not pass altogether without notice. Give me the +jewel-case that has been in your charge, and the key too, dear. I +have, of course, meant that you should have these things that were so +peculiarly associated with your dear mother's younger days. The watch +you can wear at once, as your own does not seem to keep good time. +Hers was an excellent time-keeper, and it will remind you to be exact +and true, and gentle and holy, like your dear mother. I shall take +real pleasure in seeing you wear it. Go, daughter, at once! I am glad +I thought of something that will please you on your birthday." + +Alma obeyed mechanically, and returned quickly with the empty case in +her hand, hoping that when the critical moment came she should be able +to explain herself satisfactorily. She gave the casket into her +father's hands, and waited in a silence so natural under the +circumstances that he did not notice it. + +There was no sparkle from the dark cushions, but a sudden, astonished +sparkle in the colonel's eyes. "Empty, Alma! What does this mean?" he +exclaimed. + +"I have given them away," she said, blushing very deeply. + +"Given them away!" repeated the colonel, slowly and sternly. + +"I have given them for a good object, very dear to my heart. I am sure +you would approve of it. Please, papa, do not ask me any more about it +now. I do not want to tell you yet. It is a secret. I have promised, +just to myself, and almost to God, never to tell any one until a +certain thing is accomplished--until I can fully succeed." + +"What is the matter with you, child? Have you lost your senses? You +had no right to give away things intrusted to your care. I have told +you that, by your mother's simple will, all she had was left at my +disposition. Am I to be disappointed in both my children?" and the +colonel bowed his head upon his hands. + +"Dear papa, you are not to be disappointed in me! I have done nothing +wrong." Here Alma's conscience gave her a sharp prick. Suddenly she +broke out, after a moment's pause, "I want to be like the princess. I +am sure that would please you, papa! You know she sold her jewels for +a home for the sick poor." + +The colonel answered seriously: "The princess is a saintly woman, and +you would do well to follow her example. She sold her jewels to build +a home for the aged sick, but she did not do it, princess and grown +woman as she was, until she had asked the consent of her mother and her +brother the king. What have you done, my child? What have you been +thinking of? You must explain yourself fully. I have a right to +demand it!" + +Alma again left the room, to return with the little yellow house in her +hands. "Here is my savings-box, papa," she said; "Nono made it for me." + +A flush of pleasure came over the face of the colonel. "So exactly +like Karin's cottage!" he exclaimed. "What a clever little boy! I +like him." + +"I thought--I thought," said Alma, encouraged by her father's smile--"I +thought I would like to have a home for sick little children. I wanted +to save my money to do something really good and lasting, instead of +fooling it away by giving a little here and there, that did not after +all do much good to anybody. I have saved all I could, and have given +nothing away for anything else, but it went very slowly, and then I +thought of those ornaments that were to be mine, and--I really did not +think you would care." Here Alma blushed, and added, "I hoped you +would not mind!" and her tears fell fast. + +"My poor child!" said the colonel, as he put his arm around her and +drew her to his side. "So this is the explanation of the change that +had passed over you, and had given me so much pain!--my little Alma, +who loved so dearly to give, and who has lately been so hard and cold +that the very idea of an appeal from a poor family seemed to close her +heart and stiffen her face into determined opposition. You cannot be a +princess, dear, and do some great thing. I am afraid there was more +pride than holy love in your plan. You should not think of yourself +when you want to do good, but of your heavenly Master and his suffering +brothers. Remember that! That was your dear mother's way. Self +seemed dead in her. If she could but have lived to teach you by her +beautiful example! It is not in seeking to do some great thing that we +are in the right path. The little things that come to us day by day +and hour by hour are safest for most Christians, and surely so for +beginners. Where is the key to this locked little house?" + +Alma produced the key at once, and placed it in her father's hands. He +might open that small door if he pleased. She fancied it would be +almost wrong to do it herself. + +The door was opened, and there, among small coins and great, lay the +jewels. The crystal of the watch had been broken by some falling +contribution. The colonel took the watch in his hand, and said,-- + +"This can easily be repaired. You must wear it constantly; and may it +remind you that the best gifts to God are those that are offered +humbly, modestly, with no thought of self, and with no desire for the +praise of man. If the little watch can so remind you of your duty, it +will be a holy messenger to you, and so in a way set apart to the +service of God. You have unwisely given, as you thought, the diamonds +to the poor. We will not take them back. Your dear mother had not +herself worn them for many years. They shall be sold, and you may send +the money anonymously to any hospital for children where help is +needed. So you will keep your motives. With the money lying in the +little cottage you can have the joy of helping the suffering poor; but +you had better consult with me as to how to use it. It is not to be +thrown away now lavishly on every applicant, to do perhaps more harm +than good. Lay the jewels in the case and lock the door of the little +cottage." He was going to add, "Remember, Alma, that one kind word +from you to your brother is a better offering for you than much money +given in charity." The words were not spoken. He but said, "Poor +Frans! where is he? God help my boy!" + +Alma put her arm round her father's neck and whispered, "Dear papa, if +Frans comes home--when he comes home, I do really mean to be more kind +to him than ever before; but he--" + +"No 'buts,' Alma," said the father. "However far wrong your brother +has gone, he is still your brother, your only brother, and it will be +your duty to love him, and pray for him, and watch over him with tender +affection. He has no mother. You must be to him all that a good +sister can be." + +"Papa!" said Alma, deeply moved, "you are too gentle towards me. I do +not deserve it. I half felt all the while that I might be doing wrong +about those things that did not really belong to me. I see it now very +plainly. I would not listen to my conscience. I see I had a foolish +pride in what I was trying to do. I did not see it clearly then, but +now I know I was taking possession of what did not really belong to +me--I who have been so angry with Frans, so ashamed even to think of +him as my brother! I don't know what I should have been if I had +fallen into temptation, and had had a bad companion to lead me on! +Please, please, papa, forgive me! I know you do; but I cannot forgive +myself! I am sure the sight of dear mamma's watch ought always to make +me humble." + +"May God help you and keep you from all evil!" said the father +solemnly, as he kissed his daughter and bade her good-night. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +SPECTACLES. + +The news of the disappearance of Frans had brought gloom to the golden +house. There he had been lovingly received, and had appeared at his +best. Nono was clear in his mind that Frans had had nothing to do with +the theft, however wrong he might have done in running away and causing +his friends such painful anxiety. + +Jan shut his mouth firmly and went about in determined silence. Karin +cried as if it had been her own boy who had gone wrong. + +"He hasn't had any mother to look after him," said Nono, and he patted +Karin tenderly. "If you could have had him it would have been quite +different, I am sure." + +"That is a fact," said one of the twins. + +"A solid fact!" echoed the other. + +Karin smiled for a moment kindly, and then said soberly, "If only Uncle +Pelle were here! I should so like to know what he would say." + +Old Pelle had gone on his pedestrian trip. Not that he had any +sportsman accoutrements, or used any slang as to the particulars of his +expedition. In one respect he was prepared for his excursion on the +strictest modern principles. He was lightly equipped as to clothing, +and in woollen garments from top to toe. Better still, he had a light +heart within, and a thankful one. He was out on a pleasant errand. + +Pelle was now a settled resident in the parish where the golden cottage +stood, with occupation pledged to him while he had strength to work, +and a support as long as life lasted. The colonel had settled that +matter; and Karin rejoiced to see the shadows cleared from the old +man's future, with the bright prospect of his continuing to be "a +blessing" to them, as she said, "while he was above the green grass." + +Pelle had left a few trifles at the poorhouse, where he had been +grudgingly received during his last long attack of serious illness. He +had before been unable to make up his mind to go after his small +belongings. There had been lingering in the depths of his heart a germ +of bitterness about the whole affair, and he had been afraid it might +spring into strong life if he returned to see the old place again. Now +the rankling, tormenting thoughts had vanished in the sunshine that had +come to him, and he was sure it would be pleasant to see the familiar +scenes again, and to take well-known people by the hand in a friendly +way, and let bygones be bygones. + +Pelle had been rowed over to the opposite side of the bay, to avoid an +unnecessary bit of walking; and now that he was expected home, Nono was +sent across the water to meet him. Nono was already in the boat and +taking up the oars, when Alma came strolling along the shore with her +hands full of wild flowers, for she had been botanizing. "Let me row +with you," she said eagerly to Nono. + +"Yes," said Nono; "I am going after Uncle Pelle. But the boat--" and +he looked at Alma's light dress, and then at the traces left of the +last trip of the fishermen to whom the boat belonged. + +"Never mind that," said Alma cheerily. "I can manage my dress, and I +do so love to row." She seated herself and took up a pair of oars. + +It was a long pull across the bay, and they were only half over when +they saw a sail-boat in front of them, making for the wider part of the +inlet. + +"Not very good sailors, I think," said Nono critically, for Pelle had +taught him how to trim a sail. He had hardly spoken the word when a +flaw struck the little skiff they were watching, and it capsized +instantly. There was a loud shriek from the place of the accident, and +a groan from Nono and Alma. They could soon see two heads, and arms +clinging to the upturned boat. Alma and Nono rowed desperately towards +the spot, but made slow progress, as the bay had suddenly grown rough, +and the wind was contrary. They could distinguish the faces now. One +was unknown, but Alma's eyes grew large and full of anguish as she +recognized her brother. "It is Frans!" she said to Nono. + +"Yes," was his only reply, and they pulled with even more determination +than before. In a few moments Frans and his companion were taken on +board by Alma and Nono. + +"Frans!" said Alma, as she laid her hand in his, "I was so afraid--I +was so afraid we should not reach you in time. You can swim; why +didn't you start out for us?" + +"Knut here can't swim, and of course I couldn't leave him. I knew I +couldn't keep him up and make my way to you. It was better for us to +hold fast as long as we could." + +A well-manned boat was now seen coming towards them from the shore. +The strong rowers soon brought it to their side. Knut looked meaningly +at Frans, but was silent. + +"We must have those young fellows," said the person in command, who was +evidently an officer of justice. + +The dripping boys changed their quarters without a word. Frans turned +and looked at Alma as the boat he had entered headed for the shore. +"Thank you, sister," he called out; "you rowed like a man!" + +He had never called her "sister" before. Alma's eyes filled with +tears. She moved as if to row after her brother. + +"Uncle Pelle will be expecting us. I think I see him there waiting," +said Nono. "We must go for him." Nono was decided. This was the +errand on which he was sent, and the duty must be done, even though +Miss Alma might be displeased with him. Alma looked impatient, but +after a moment she began to move her pair of oars willingly as she +said, "You are right, Nono," and relapsed into silence. + +When Pelle came on board, Nono did not say anything about what had +happened until Pelle himself, who had seen the whole from the shore, +asked what it all meant, and who the boys were who had so mismanaged +their boat, "green hands" as he could see. + +"You can tell him, Nono," said Alma. "He will have to know it all. +But I am so glad Frans was not drowned!" + +Alma looked straight forward over the water, while Nono, as kindly as +he could, told in a few words all the sad story to Pelle, who listened +in silence; but towards the close a strange gleam of intelligence came +into his eyes. Pelle never talked if he were not in the humour, and +now Nono was not surprised that no answer came from the old man's +firmly-closed lips. + +Alma was the first to step ashore. With a hurried nod to her +companions she moved off swiftly towards her home. + +"Now pull for town--pull, Nono!" said Pelle, with unusual energy, +taking up himself the oars that Alma had laid down. + +Pull they did, tired as were Nono's young arms, and feeble as were +Pelle's. The distance was short by water, and the two were soon at the +magistrate's office, where Pelle expected to find the delinquent boys. +They were already there. Their wet clothes had been changed, and they +were for the moment in private conversation with the colonel, who had +been summoned immediately on their arrival. + +In the pocket of the dripping coat that had been worn by Frans a bundle +of the missing bank-notes had been found, carelessly rolled in a bit of +yellow wrapping-paper. This all the by-standers about the door had +heard, for the proceedings at the country seat of justice seem to be +considered to belong to the small public of the neighbourhood. + +While Pelle was waiting without, Nono having been sent back at once +with the boat, the colonel was holding Frans by the hand, and talking +to him from the depths of his stirred paternal heart. + +"I have you, Frans, as one alive from the dead, and so I must talk to +you," said the colonel solemnly. "Don't answer me; don't speak a word, +Frans!--And you, boy," and he turned towards Knut, "keep quiet. No +excuses; no explanations from either of you!--I want to say to you, +Frans, what I should have longed to say to you if you had sunk in that +deep water. I have not watched over you as I should, my boy. I take +my share in the blame of what you have done. I have been too wrapped +up in my own sorrows, my own ill-health, and my own melancholy +reflections, to be to you what I ought to have been. I find I love you +most intensely, and your loss would have been a terrible blow to me. +Your bright face gone for ever from the home would have made it dreary +indeed. You have caused me great sorrow by running away, and have, I +fear, been guilty of that for which the law must punish you." + +[Illustration: Frans admonished.] + +Frans stirred as if about to speak. + +"Silence!" said his father sternly. "The missing bank-notes were some +of them found in your coat pocket. You had no such money when you left +home; you will be called on to account for its being there." + +Frans stared speechlessly at his father, and then looked at his +companion. + +"He's been free with money since we were out," said Knut; "but I +supposed such high-fliers had always no end of cash on hand, and never +suspected anything more than the boys' frolic we started out for when +we found it had gone contrary for us at school." + +"Papa!" began Frans eagerly. + +At the moment an officer came in to say, "There is an old man +outside--old Pelle everybody calls him--who says he _must_ see the +boys; that it is most important for them." The magistrate and Pelle +and several other solemn-looking individuals entered the room. + +Pelle looked first at Frans and then at his companion. The strange +gleam came again into his eyes as he bowed to all present and asked to +be allowed to tell his story. Permission to speak was authoritatively +given him, and he began,-- + +"About four hours ago I was standing by the bay, up at Trolleudden, +when I saw that young fellow," pointing at Knut, "come up to a chap who +had a sail-boat there to let to the summer villa people. The boy +wanted a boat for a trip down the bay. He was willing to pay +handsomely, he said, and he did, with a bank-note, though he didn't +look as if he were much used to handling that sort of thing. I somehow +thought there must be something wrong about it. Then I went up to the +little inn to get a glass of milk and a bit of bread. When I came into +the sitting-room, there was a boy there, who sat with his arms on the +table, and his head on his hands, with his hat tipped down so over his +eyes that I couldn't see his face. He was dressed like a workman, with +a leather apron on, and a coarse shirt, and an old overcoat outside, +though it was so warm I was glad to go in my flannel sleeves. There +was something queer about the boy. I could see his hands. They were +not very clean, to be sure, but they didn't look as if they had seen +much real work. I soon got through thinking about the boy, who seemed +to be asleep. I finished my bread and milk, and took out my book to +read while I rested, and quite forgot where I was. Suddenly I heard +somebody steal into the room, tiptoe up, and stand behind me. I kept +quite still, but on the watch, for I felt all was not right. As I +looked into my spectacles I saw who it was that was so near me. Often +in church I see the person who is standing behind me. I don't know how +it is, but I do, as if my spectacles were a looking-glass. I didn't +like the sly, bad face right before my eyes. I could not help seeing +it between me and the book, and I knew it was the lad who had hired the +boat. In a second an arm was stretched forward towards the boy who was +sitting very near me, the other side of the corner of the table, and a +little yellow parcel was tucked into the pocket of his great-coat. I +had nothing to say in the matter, and did not let on that I noticed it. +It might be some young folks' frolic. I am not used to meddle in other +people's business, but I generally know what goes on round me. The +face went out of my spectacles, and the door shut quietly. I finished +my reading and went out. Those boys I have not seen again to know them +till I meet the very same here." + +"What were you reading?" asked the magistrate sternly. + +"This book," said old Pelle, taking out his worn paper-covered "Thomas +à Kempis," and handing it to the gentleman, who returned it without a +word, but ordered the wet clothes of the boys to be brought in. "I +don't know those things, surely," said Pelle, pointing to the larger +suit, "but should say that might be the leather apron the younger boy +had on. I couldn't be sure either of the coat, but the striped shirt +is just like the wrist-band that showed as the boy had his arms on the +table, as he was asleep or pretended to be." + +"The roll of bank-notes was found in that coat, wrapped up in a bit of +yellow paper," said the magistrate. "You may sit down, Pelle." + +The magistrate then solemnly called on Frans to speak for himself. + +"I know nothing at all about the money," he said. "I heard somebody +coming in at the inn, and put down my head at once, and tipped my hat +forward to hide my face. I did not look up again until I had heard the +person beside me stir and then go out. I believe I had dozed a little, +but I can't be sure." + +Knut, when questioned, denied having seen old Pelle at all, and +declared that it was probable the whole story had been made up after +the old man had heard outside that the notes were found in Frans's +pocket. As if anybody could see who was behind him by looking into his +own spectacles! It had been a bad business going off with Frans, and +he was very sorry for it. He had found Frans in such a taking about +his bad report, ashamed and afraid to go home, and talking of working +his way as a sailor over the ocean. "Of course I went with him, and +tried to take care of him," said Knut, "and this is my reward! Frans +and that old fellow have been regular 'chums.' I have often seen them +together. Of course 'the quality' would have somebody to turn the +world upside down to help them. Frans has his own father, but I"--here +Knut sobbed audibly--"a poor widow's son, have nobody to stand by me. +If my _poor_ mother were here, what could she do for me? But she is +far back in the country, not knowing what her boy has come to by trying +to help a young scamp who had got into a tight place." + +There was much sympathy for Knut in the little assembly, and "Poor +fellow! poor fellow!" had been murmured by more than one listener as he +went on. + +"See out of the back of his head!" continued Knut, "or in his +spectacles, as he says! Likely! Better try him," he boldly concluded. + +"A good suggestion," said the magistrate. + +The court-room seemed suddenly changed into a playroom for grown +people. Pelle was placed on a chair, now here and now there, while +different people were placed behind him, and he was called on to say +who was leaning towards his shoulder. + +Pelle looked and looked in vain. The spectacles told no tales. A +sneer went round the room again and again, and Knut was heard to +chuckle as he said, "Of course he made up the whole story. That any +one in his senses could believe it!" + +Pelle was discomfited. At last he said falteringly, "I have told the +truth. I did see that face in my spectacles, but I don't see anything +now. It has happened to me many times in church on Sunday morning. I +am sure I could do it where I sit in the church." + +"Why not let him try it in the church?" said the colonel. "I am sure +the pastor would give his permission." + +The experiment in the church was arranged for the next morning. + +Frans and his companion were left in custody for the night, and the +colonel went home with a sad heart, but not without some hope that his +son would be proved to be innocent. For it was true that Frans had +been much at the golden house, and was a great favourite there, and it +was not impossible that the temptation to free him had been too strong +for Pelle to resist. + +The morning came, and at eleven o'clock there was an unusual gathering +in the parish church. The stillness round the marble sleepers on the +monumental tombs was broken, not by the sound of prayer and praise, but +by the low hush of murmuring voices and the tramp of eager feet. Pelle +came quietly in and took his usual seat. He bowed his head, just from +habit, then followed a silent petition, not for a blessing on the +services of the sanctuary, but that the innocent might be defended and +the guilty brought to justice. + +He raised himself up and sat down, intending to wait for further +orders. He suddenly said in a sharp voice, "Take off your hat, Adam or +Enos!" and then turned unconsciously to look behind him. Yes, there +stood one of the twins, which he could not say, his mouth wide with +delight, while a murmur went round, "He was right this time!" + +"Of course it was all planned before at the cottage," said a dissenting +voice. + +"I don't plan to have boys stand in the church with their hats on," +said Pelle. + +"I ordered the boy to take his place there myself," said the magistrate. + +Again and again the experiment was tried, and with success, even the +pastor and the magistrate curiously taking their turn in the +performance; Pelle then, most respectfully stating whom he had had the +honour to see, bowing as he did so. + +At last all present were fully convinced that Pelle had spoken the +truth, and he was conducted in a kind of triumphal procession back to +the cottage. + +The question was everywhere agitated, "What is to 'come of' Pelle's +testimony?" The fate of the boys was not to be altogether decided by +him. + +The authorized messengers who had been sent to the little inn where +Pelle had stopped came back with the innkeeper and the owner of the +boat that had been hired by the boys. From them it was easily learned +that the culprits had been seen at the time mentioned by Pelle, and had +been considered suspicious strangers, especially the older lad, who was +foolishly free with his money, and had a bold, bad look about him. The +younger boy was described as cast down, and evidently not on good terms +with his companion. + +The case did not come to a public trial. A large part of the money +taken had been recovered, the note paid for the boat being identified +as one of the missing bills. The merchant who had been robbed declined +prosecuting the offender, as his loss was fully made good to him by the +colonel. It was, however, exacted in the agreement that Knut should be +sent out of the country at once. + +The pastor took Knut home with him, and gave him such a kind, serious +talk that the poor lad's heart was quite melted, and he, sincere for +the time at least, promised to try to lead a better life. + +"He will only go to ruin if he is sent to prison," Pelle had said. +"May God help the boy in his own way! I will try to help him in mine. +Who knows what I might have been if I had kept on as a sailor!" So +Pelle, for the time a prominent man, went round in the neighbourhood +and collected money enough to send the guilty boy over the Atlantic to +begin life again in the far West. + +Karin wrote a short letter to her "son in America," full of love to +Erik, and with a request that he would do what he could for Knut to +help him on in the right way. Oke penned a full description of the +whole affair, which he declared was written so plainly that anybody +ought to understand it, let alone a Swede like Erik, born in the best +country in the world, though he did now seem to be more than half an +American. + +A neat suit of clothes had been sent to Frans by the careful +housekeeper, so that he looked quite like himself when he took his seat +beside his father for his homeward drive. + +Oke had made haste to tell all the neighbourhood of the success of +Pelle in the church, and Alma had had her share of the good news. +Whether Frans would be allowed to return home with his father she had +not yet heard. She sat anxiously watching at the window, when there +was a sound of carriage-wheels in the avenue. There were two persons +in the carriage! Yes, one was certainly Frans! + +Alma ran down to the veranda. "Dear, dear Frans! I am so glad to see +you!" she exclaimed, as she put her arm around him; and so they +followed their father into the house. + +"Thank you, sister!" he answered, with a quivering lip. He could say +no more. + +The colonel went into the library and closed the door, and Frans and +his sister were left together. They went back to the veranda and sat +down side by side, Frans still struggling to gain self-command. + +"Dear brother," began Alma, "I am so sorry I have been a cross, +disagreeable sister to you. I mean to be better. I shall try, and you +must forgive me if I fail, and am cross to you sometimes." + +"Don't speak so, sister," said Frans, interrupting her. "You do not +know what you have been to me. You have kept me from much that is +wrong. When I have been with the boys, and have been tempted to speak +and do as some of them did, I have thought of you. 'What would Alma +say to such talk and such doings?' would come into my mind and help me +to resist temptation. I have thought of you as something higher, +holier, purer than myself. And such a good scholar, too! I have +always been proud of my sister. You found fault with me, of course. I +deserved it, poor, thoughtless fellow that I have been. I cannot be +like you, Alma, but I am really going to try to be better. I have done +with idle ways and bad companions. I did not know what Knut really was +until we came to be constantly together, and then, bad as I was, I +thanked God that I had had such a father and such a sister and such a +home. It is only God's mercy that has saved me from a prison. I had +no way to prove my innocence. What I have suffered you can understand, +but I deserved it all. I have been doing badly all the term. I tried +to make it up at the last. All went well with me in the morning, but +in the afternoon I was so worn out and so tired and dull that I could +not command myself to say what I really knew. Of course I made a +miserable failure. I was afraid to meet my father and ashamed to see +your face when I had come out so badly. I did the worst thing I could +do. I added wrong to wrong, not thinking of all the worry and trouble +I was making. I was quite desperate when I met Knut, and he proposed +that we should go off together. I caught at the plan.--Listen. When I +was hanging, clinging to the boat, in that deep water, so far from the +shore, my whole life came before me; and what a worthless life it was! +I seemed shut out from heaven. I felt so miserable and hopeless and +wretched! Then I saw you coming over the water. You looked so pale +and slight, but you worked like a man. Then I understood that you +loved me, that you really cared for me, and would forgive me. I did +not know then of the dreadful thing of which I was suspected, but you +did, and you and dear father were willing to forgive me. That helped +me afterwards to understand that I might try to lead a new life, and to +believe our heavenly Father too could forgive me, and willingly give me +strength to do better." + +Alma had several times tried to speak, but Frans had laid his hand +pleadingly on hers as he went on. Now she said solemnly, "Thank God, +Frans! we are to begin our new life together. I have not been the true +Christian you seem to have thought me, in spite of my very wrong way +towards you. I feel that I have set you a very bad example. We must +help each other now." + +"_You_ must help me," said Frans soberly; then starting up, he +exclaimed, "But I am forgetting Marie, who has always been so kind to +me. You can't think how many messages she managed to send me when I +was in town in disgrace, and little things to eat, too, that she +thought I would like." + +Marie was lingering in the hall, listening not to catch the words of +the conversation going on without, but enjoying the satisfaction of +hearing the voice of her "dear boy," as she called him, once more in +his own home. She had made up her mind, however, to reprove him +sharply for causing them all so much trouble. When, however, she saw +him looking so humble and sorrowful, so little like himself, she had no +reproaches for him, but took his offered hand affectionately, and +exclaimed, "You dear boy!" as if he had been a little child. + +And Frans felt like a child--a naughty child; but a child forgiven, and +resolved to do better. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +QUESTIONINGS. + +Another spring had come to the golden house. Such a little family as +Karin now had! She quite mourned over it. The twins had gone to +America; Erik had written for them. He had now a good place on a farm, +where there was work for two such "hands" as he was sure Adam and Enos +must be, raised in such a home. The twins had been good teachers of +the Swedish language in their way, the best way, by example; and Erik +was soon able to write a letter again that could be understood at the +golden house without a translator. He wrote that the twins were the +admiration of the country round, and his pride too. So Karin was +thankful; but she missed the big, boisterous fellows, and said she felt +like an old table trying to stand on three legs, with only Thor and +Sven and Nono at home. + +Pelle and Nono still had many cozy talks together, for which the boy +was much wiser and the old man much happier. But the time came when +the little Italian had a real sorrow. + +Up in Stockholm the solemn bells were ringing, and mourning garments +and mourning hats were everywhere. In stately mansions and in dreary +attics real tears of sorrow were shed. The good princess was dead. In +the palace, in a grand apartment all draped in black, lay her silent, +wasted body, on a pompous funeral bier. Throngs of the loftiest and +the noblest of the land passed slowly by, in solemn procession, to pay +their last respects to the humble princess and the true-hearted woman +who had gone to her reward. Rough peasants and the poor of the city +came too, with their tribute of real mourning, grateful to see once +more the face of the loving friend who had cast sunlight into their +shadowed lives. + +Far away in the country little Nono's heart was sorrowful. _His_ +princess was dead! No one had been able to really comfort him. +Suddenly he seemed to see her bright and glad in the Holy City. She +was at home at last! She was where she belonged--where "the inhabitant +shall no more say, I am sick;" where "the wicked cease from troubling, +and the weary be at rest." Nono had now his princess in heaven, and he +went about his work with something of the light in his face which he +had seemed to see in hers. + +From the hospital there came the news that little Decima was drooping +and sad. She said she must cry because the princess would never take +her on her knee again and call her "Decima Desideria." The child +declared she was well now, and she wanted to go home. Indeed she was +as well as she could ever be, the doctors said, but she would be a +cripple for life. She must always walk with a crutch. A change would +do the child good, was the universal opinion; so home came the little +girl, to her mother's great delight. + +"Such a dear little useful creature as she had learned to be," Karin +said, and it was true. As to knitting and crochet-work, no one in that +parish could match her. The little lame girl really brought sunshine +back to the golden house. She had such sweet songs to sing, and such +hymns for Sunday, that Jan said it was quite like going to church to +hear her, or more like hearing the little angels doing their best up in +heaven. To Pelle she particularly attached herself, laughing merrily, +as she said they belonged together, as they both walked with a stick. + +Decima was soon the soul of merriment. She seemed to have been +provided with an extra stock of gladness, to bubble over, in spite of +her misfortune, to be a joy to herself and all about her. Her +resources for talk were inexhaustible. She had always stories to tell +of her stay at the hospital, something that had happened to herself or +the other little patients, whose biographies she had quite by heart. + +Of the princess Decima never wearied of talking--how she played with +the children, even let them cover her with hay, then rose up suddenly +out of the silent heap, and smiled at them so friendly, just like an +angel, they all thought. What sweet words she wrote to them, too, +about the good Shepherd that would willingly lead them to the green +pastures! + +"Yes, little Decima is lame for life, but it has been her greatest +blessing," said Pelle to Karin. Karin opened her eyes wide, and he +went on: "We all spoiled Decima. The boys petted and teased her, and +even you, Karin, seemed to think the world must be made all smooth for +her. The princess has taught her the way to heaven, and has gone +before, so the child understands what a real place heaven is. We +mustn't spoil her again." + +The caution was needed. When Decima was pleased to speak, all +listened. Something was said one day in her presence about a monkey. +She began to laugh cheerily, and told about a baby monkey that a +hand-organ man brought once to the hospital in his pocket. She had +seen him from the window. It was a queer man, they all thought, for he +said he was looking for a golden house, where he left a baby long ago. +Maybe it was Nono he meant. He only stayed a little while, and then +went away, and never came back again. + +[Illustration: "She had seen the hand-organ man from the window."] + +Nono's eyes gleamed as he listened, and his mouth trembled so he could +not speak. "It must have been my father!" he exclaimed at last, and +his tears fell fast. + +So thought all the family, and the news was soon spread abroad that +Nono's father was in Sweden, and was looking for him. Decima had to +tell the story over and over again to listeners in the house and +listeners without. The colonel and the pastor set on foot an inquiry +for the man who had appeared months ago at the hospital, but with no +apparent result. The interest in the search gradually died away, and +it was the general conclusion that the man had returned discouraged to +his native land. + +As for Nono, he was quite changed. He did not give up the hope of +finding his own father. He seemed always listening, looking out for, +expecting something. Yet he did his work faithfully, and was more than +ever thoughtful of Karin, and dutiful and obedient towards Jan. There +was a special tenderness towards the dear friends in the cottage, as if +the time of parting might be near. The likeness of the princess seemed +meanwhile to have become especially dear to him. He would stand and +look at it long and wistfully, as if he would ask his friend some deep +question, or read in her inmost soul. + +Pelle watched the boy narrowly, and grew uneasy about him. Nono was +not inclined to talk about his father, and Pelle would not force his +confidence. He was afraid some wild scheme was forming in the mind of +the boy, some plan of going off in search of his father. Pelle took +occasion at one time to speak of the sorrow Frans had caused in his +home by his disappearance; at another, he enlarged on the dangers that +beset young lads without the protecting care of those who understood +life better than they did, etc., with innumerable variations. + +Nono listened in respectful silence, but with a wandering, wistful look +in his eyes. + +Alma had been intensely interested in Decima's story. Nono's life was +quite like a romance, she said, and she wished she could turn to the +last page of the story, as she often did in a book she was reading. +She, too, was watching and waiting and expecting. The sound of a +hand-organ brought her at once to the window, and many a wandering +musician was astonished with questions in Swedish and Italian as to +whether he was looking for the golden house, where he had left a baby +long ago; what had become of Pionono, the bear; if Francesca were dead, +etc. Such questions, put so suddenly and skilfully, Alma fancied would +be sure to bring out the truth. The puzzled stragglers often went away +from Ekero half suspecting that they were losing their own wits or the +young lady had quite lost hers, or that Swedish and Italian were now so +confused in their brains that they could fully understand neither. +When such wanderers happened to meet Nono on the highroad, they were +likely to be further mystified by the dark boy's saying suddenly, +"Don't I look like an Italian?" or "I am the baby that was left at the +golden house," or some other equally surprising question or +announcement. + +If Nono chanced to have neglected to speak to such a stranger, he was +haunted by the thought that perhaps that very man was his father, and +he might have lost his only opportunity of succeeding in his search. + +"I shall be glad when winter comes, and these black-haired fellows stop +tramping the country round," said Karin one day. "I am tired of the +sight of them, and thinking when I see them perhaps they are coming to +carry off Nono. What should I do without him? Why, he's just like one +of my own boys." + +Karin was talking to Pelle. She always allowed herself the liberty of +saying out first what was in her heart to him. Now he answered her at +once. "You seem to think that Nono was made just to be a pleasure to +you, like a baby's plaything. A pleasure he has been to you and to us +all, and that I don't deny. God knows what he means to do with the +boy, and we don't. It's likely he'll have to go out like the others to +earn his living. He can't weed and run errands for Miss Alma all his +life. You must think that he is getting to be a big boy, if we do call +him 'little Nono.' The Lord will take care of him, I am sure of that," +and Pelle turned away from Karin and went into his little room. + +Karin dashed away the tears that had come into her eyes at the very +thought of parting with Nono, but she thought to herself, "Pelle is +right. Nono is getting to be a big boy, and more's the pity. How glad +I am that I have Decima for company! and so cheerful and helpful the +child is. I don't know how I got on without her so long. If I had had +my way and kept her at home, she would have been a wild, spoiled little +thing, to be sure. The Lord's ways are best, as Pelle says. That's +what I am, a poor scholar at learning. A mother, though, must be a +mother, and that the Lord knows as well as I do, and that's a comfort." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +NONO'S PLANS, AND PLANS FOR NONO. + +Winter had come again. Nono, who was usually of a contented spirit, +seemed continually displeased with the weather. It was now the last of +January. There had for many weeks been a pleasant alternation of +sunshine and storm, of cold and a milder temperature. The snow had +been continually on the ground, but not deep enough to be in any way an +inconvenience; yet Nono was not satisfied. At last the light flakes +had fallen slowly for several days, and then the paths about the +cottage were cut out sharply, as from the solid rock. + +Nono's face wore an expression of musing satisfaction. He seemed now +in a mood for play. Thor and Sven were delighted when they heard him +ask their mother's permission to build in his spare time a snow-house +after a plan he had in his mind, and if it might stand in the open +space between the cottage and the gate. Karin was pleased to see Nono +looking so happy, and promptly granted his request. + +Nono found no difficulty in getting the other boys to act under his +direction, as they had great confidence in his architectural abilities. +With such willing hands the work went on cheerily, and with wonderful +rapidity. Block after block was put in its place, and the surface most +skilfully smoothed and hardened. + +After all, it only looked like a watch-house when it was done, Jan +said, and he was right. There was much playing sentinel among the +children, as they stood on guard, being relieved at stated intervals, +even Decima being allowed to share in the fun. This kind of frolic +came to an end when Nono, with Karin's leave, had smeared the arched +interior with a dismal pasty composition from the refuse of the +coal-cellar at Ekero. + +Nono now ventured to ask Karin to lend him a sheet to hang for a few +days before the opening of the watch-house, as the structure was +familiarly called in the family. Sven and Thor gave each other +significant punches as the request was granted, to signify that no +sheet would have been loaned to them; which was no doubt a fact, as +they were not much to be relied on for discretion or care-taking. + +Now began the erection of something within the snow-house, which Nono +alone was allowed to touch. The so-called "little boys" were of the +opinion that Nono was making the stump of a crooked old tree; but Oke, +who considered himself an authority in the family as to matters +literary and artistic, declared his opinion that Nono was making a +model of the leaning tower of Pisa, of which he spoke as familiarly as +if he had seen it personally in his travels. To the disappointment of +Decima and her brothers, they were soon all shut out from the scene of +Nono's labours; and he asked them so kindly not even to peep behind the +white curtain, that they gave their promise to do as he wished, and +promises were held sacred at the golden house. + +One morning, early in February, Nono had gone out early to "the +watch-house," and had removed the curtain, as the sheet was +respectfully called. The family had finished their breakfast, and were +just breaking up to set off in different directions, when there was a +sound of sleigh-bells stopping at the gate. + +The colonel and a gentleman who was staying at Ekero had started out +for a morning drive, "Shall we pass near the post-office?" said the +gentleman, taking a letter from his pocket. "I forgot to say before we +left the house that I had a letter I was anxious to have mailed at +once. It is my wife's name-day, and I want her to get a few words from +me." + +"We shall not pass the post-office," said the colonel, "but I can get a +trusty messenger here;" and the coachman drew up at once at the cottage. + +The gentleman started, and the colonel sprang to his feet in surprise. + +"How wonderful! so like her! I almost thought I had seen a spectre!" +said the stranger. "And her name-day, too. My wife was named after +the princess." + +Yes! There stood the princess in white garments, seemingly coming +forward, her figure gracefully bowed, as it was in life, as if by a +loving, unconscious desire of the heart to draw near to all who +approached her. A fleecy shawl seemed to lie lightly over her +shoulders. Snow-white coils of hair crowned her head, and her fair +face had a pure sweetness of its own. + +"It is wonderfully like her!" said the stranger. + +The family from the cottage now came out, Nono leading Karin, who had +all the while been in the secret, and the rest eagerly following. + +"Is this your work, Nono?" said the colonel. + +Nono modestly bowed, and murmured an answer, while his eyes glowed as +if they were on fire. + +The sound of little Decima sobbing broke in on the conversation. "That +is a cold white princess!" she said. "She can't take me on her knee +and tell me pretty stories. I don't like the cold white princess!" + +Jan took Decima in his arms, while the colonel said pleasantly: "But we +like her, Decima; and we loved the princess, both of us; and this +gentleman's wife has her name; and he has written a letter to her that +we want taken to the post-office at once, that she may get it on her +name-day.--Can you go, Nono?" + +Nono was glad to spring away with the letter, full of happy +thoughts--that every one knew that it was the princess, his dear snow +princess, that he had made with his own hands! The gentlemen liked it, +too! + +While Nono was joyously bounding along the road to the village, the +group round the statue could not get through admiring it. + +"He's a wonder, that boy!" said Karin, as she went into the cottage. +"That he should come to me to bring up, when I can't cut out a +gingerbread baby so that it looks like anything!" + +"God knows why he sent him to you, Karin," said Pelle, "and God will +know what to do with him in the time that is coming. He is a wonderful +boy, that is sure!" + +While the simple people at the golden house were talking in this way +about Nono, the colonel and his guest had driven away. The stranger +had promised to come in the afternoon and take a photograph of the snow +statue, and of Nono too, the very best he could get, and of the whole +family group just as he had seen them. + +As the gentlemen drove on together they talked of the princess, beloved +by rich and poor, and of the visitor's wife, one of the pure in heart +worthy to bear the name of her honoured friend. + +Nono, too, was the subject of conversation. His whole story was told, +and listened to with intense interest. It was agreed that Nono should, +with Karin's permission, come for some hours every day to Ekero to wait +upon the stranger, who was a sculptor, and was making a marble bust of +the colonel's wife from the various likenesses of her, assisted by her +husband's vivid descriptions of her ever-remembered face and her person +and character. + +"I must know that boy, and take him to Italy with me in the spring if I +can," said the sculptor. "There is an artist in him, I am sure, and it +will only be a pleasure to train him." + +When, later, Pelle heard the plan that was proposed, he said quickly,-- + +"Those artist fellows are not always the best to be trusted with the +care of a boy. It would be better for Nono to work in the fields, with +good Jan to look after him, than to make figures in a far country under +the greatest gentleman in the world who was not a good man." + +Karin looked relieved, and turned to hear what Jan would say on the +subject; for, after all, in important matters it was always Jan who +decided. + +"The colonel said, when he talked to me"--and here Jan paused and +looked about him. He did not object to having it understood that the +colonel considered him the head of the family, a fact which Jan himself +sometimes doubted--"the colonel said," he continued, "that artist was a +Christian man, and he had a wife just fit to be called, as she was, +after the princess, and he couldn't say any more. And he didn't need +to! They haven't any children of their own, so she just goes where he +goes, everywhere, and she's the kind of a woman to be the making of +Nono, such a boy as he is. Nono will go with him in the spring; I have +made up my mind on that matter." + +Karin began to cry. "To bring him up, and such a nice boy as he is, +and such a wonderful boy, too; and to love him so, and then have to +give him to people who hardly know him at all!" and Karin fairly sobbed. + +"You are partial to Nono, Karin," said Jan sternly. He never held back +a rebuke for Karin when he thought she deserved it. "You never took on +so when your own boys went away, three of them, over the sea." + +"_Our_ boys _are our_ boys," said Karin, "and that makes a difference. +They can't belong to anybody else. I should be their own mother, and +they'd feel it, and so should I, if they lived in the moon. But Nono, +off there, he may find his own father and mother and never come back. +They may be tramping kind of people. Most likely they are, and there's +no knowing what ways they might teach him. They have a right to him +and I haven't. That's what I feel. I love him just like my own. He +wouldn't turn the cold shoulder to his own father and mother if they +were poor as poverty or just fit for a prison, I know that. It +wouldn't be in him. Not that I think he would forget me. It would be +a shame to say it, such a good child as he has always been to me!" + +Jan put his hand on Karin's shoulder and looked helplessly at her, as +he generally did when she had a flood of tears and a flood of talk at +the same time. + +Pelle came to the rescue, as he had often done before. "Karin wants to +be Providence," he said. "She wants to take things into her own hands. +That's the way with women, especially mothers. There was my mother, +when I was a sailor, almost sure I would go to the bad; but God just +lays me up in a hospital, and turns me square round, and sets my face +to the better country. I just went home, and made up my mind to stay +by my mother, and do for her as long as she lived; and I did, God bless +her! It is good sense, Karin, to let the Lord manage his own way. +Your way might not turn out the best after all." + +"Yes, I know it," said Karin, wiping her eyes. "But things do come so +unexpected in this world, one can't ever be ready for them." + +"Just take one day at a time, Karin, and don't bother about what's +coming," said Pelle. "We can't any of us say what is to become of +Nono, not even Jan, who is so clear in his mind. We don't any of us +know what to-morrow may bring. He'll have just what the Lord has +planned for him. Women are better at bringing up 'critters' than +driving them when they are brought up. They are about the same with +boys. Mothers should bring up their boys right, and then let the Lord +do what he pleases with them afterwards. Isn't it so, Karin?" + +"Yes--maybe--I do suppose you are right, Pelle, and I'll try to +remember it. But a man don't know how a woman feels." + +"It's well they don't," said Jan curtly. "It wouldn't have suited what +I've had to do in life to be like them. Karin's heart is bigger than +her head; but things have worked well here so far, and it's likely it +will be so to the end," and Jan looked kindly after Karin as she went +off to feed the chickens, with Decima in her train, evidently thinking +her mother was the injured party. + +At the bottom of his heart Jan was convinced that he had about the best +wife in the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +PIETRO. + +The statue of the princess had long since passed away, and the thoughts +of the pleasant scenes around it had melted into the cheerful memories +of the past. In the cottage there were ever the photographs of the +beautiful white figure and of the family group, and under them an +almost perfect likeness of Nono. + +The real Nono was far away in the land of his forefathers. He was +sorely missed in the home where he had been so tenderly cared for. +Blackie was, as usual, wearing deep mourning, though he showed no +emotional signs of feeling the absence of his master. Blackie, like +many a precocious two-legged creature, had not developed into the +wonder that was expected. Example and daily association had made him +more and more like his fellows; and Nono had not been long away from +the golden house before Jan began to talk about the little black pig as +the pork of the future. + +Karin had supposed that the parting with Nono would be like the parting +with her other boys--a separation only lightened by letters coming +rarely, merely to tell that the absentees were well and doing famously. +With Nono it was quite otherwise. The letters from him came weekly, +almost as regularly as Sunday itself. And such letters as they were, +written so clearly, and containing such a particular account of his +doings, and, what Karin prized more, warm expressions of grateful +affection for the dear friends "at home," as he still called the golden +house, though it was plain that the once houseless little Italian had +now two homes. + +Nono wrote that the artist's wife treated him as if he were her own +son, and was teaching him carefully everything that would help him to +understand all that was about him. Object lessons they seemed to be, +with wonderful Rome for the great "kindergarten." He was learning +Italian too, and that he thought charming. As for his work in the +studio, it was only a pleasure, excepting that he was impatient for the +time when he could make beautiful things himself. When he had walked +in the streets at first, he had thought all the boys might at least +have been his cousins, and some of them made him feel as if he were +looking in the glass. Now and then he would meet a man that he felt +sure must be his father, but he did not often dare to speak to such +strangers. He had hoped and believed he should find his father in +Italy, but now he was sure it would be harder to know him there than in +Sweden. He had almost given up thinking about it lately, he had so +much to do and so much to see, and everybody was so kind to him. + +Karin did not feel that Nono was drifting away from her, though he +wrote so openly and affectionately of his new friends. His thankful +remembrance of all the love and care he had had at the cottage was +expressed in every letter, and a deeper gratitude for the kind +instruction that had taught him from his childhood to love his heavenly +Father, and to try to obey his holy laws. + +Alma missed Nono, it was true, for she had really grown fond of the +little friendly boy while he had been an inmate at Ekero; but she had a +new deep content in the pleasure she was learning to find in the +society of her brother. Together they were struggling heavenward, and +were daily a help and joy to each other. + +Alma was walking on the veranda one morning in early summer, when she +saw what she thought two tramps approaching. She had no liking for +such wanderers, and turned to go into the house. At that moment she +caught sight of the worn face of the older man, and stood still. He +looked so gentle, and yet so weary and weak, as he clung to the arm of +his younger companion. They were not dressed like Italians, nor like +any style of persons in particular, for their costume was evidently +made up of cast-off garments that had seen better days. Their faces, +though, were dark and thin, and there was a southern fire in the eyes +of the younger man as he said at once in tolerable Swedish, "Pietro +here is tired. He cannot get any further, miss. I told him he could +not hold out for this trip, but come he would, and I had to let him. +Perhaps he could sit down somewhere a few moments and get a glass of +milk or something like that." + +"He looks very tired," said Alma. "Go that way to the kitchen, and I +will see that you have something to eat." + +The colonel, hearing voices, came out at the moment. He saw at once +that the men were Italians, and addressed them in their own language. +The eyes of the one who had spoken flashed with pleasure, and a light +came into the face of his companion, who now said in Italian, "I have +been very ill. It is too cold for me up here. No summer, no summer! +The north killed my wife long ago, and I suppose it has killed me. I +knew this man when I was here before. I only met him again yesterday. +He knows where the house is I want to find. I left my boy there, a +baby, and I want to know if he is alive. It was Francesca's baby, and +she loved it before she went wrong," and he touched his forehead +significantly. + +The colonel looked meaningly at Alma, whose eyes were wide with intense +interest, for she had understood enough to follow the conversation. + +The colonel took the hand of the old man kindly, and said,-- + +"You must rest here a little, and then we will talk together." + +When Pietro was refreshed by rest and food the colonel sat down beside +him, and told him all about the happy life Nono had had at the cottage, +and how he had made the snow statue of the princess, and was now far +away in Italy, learning to be perhaps a great sculptor himself. + +The tears rolled slowly down the old man's cheeks as he listened. "It +is good to hear, Enricho," he murmured, addressing his companion; "but +I am too late, as you see." + +"Can't we keep him here, and take care of him? He is our Nono's +father, of course, papa," said Alma, much moved. + +Alma had truly received into the inner chamber of her heart the +heavenly Guest, and she was eager to share all with his humbler +brethren. + +"Where shall we put him?" said the colonel thoughtfully. + +"In the little room in the wing, where the painters slept last summer," +answered Alma promptly. "I will see that it is all nice for him. He +looks so sick and tired. I am sure Marie will do her best for him, she +was so fond of Nono. And, dear papa, we can use my money for him. I +have ever so much still left in my little cottage. Let me, please, +papa!" + +The colonel gazed lovingly at Alma as he said,-- + +"Now you look so like your dear mother. It is just what she would have +said. Certainly we will keep him here." + +Enricho was only too glad to leave Pietro in the pleasant quarters that +were prepared for him before evening. When the weary old man lay down +in his comfortable bed, with everything neat and clean about him, he +felt as if he were in some strange, blissful dream. He was not to see +his boy; but how lovingly they had spoken of him! + +Karin cried like a child when she heard that Nono's poor father had +appeared; the very man she had dreaded to think of, who might come at +any time to carry off the boy who was as dear to her as her own +children. How she wished she could speak the poor father's language, +and tell him what Nono had been to her! Later, she did try to make him +understand it all, not only by broken Swedish words and signs, but with +Frans sometimes as a translator. Mr. Frans had been studying Italian +with his father, and was glad himself to talk about Nono. + +Pietro, broken down by hardship and illness, and thin and worn, seemed +older than he really was. Pelle and Pietro were soon good friends. It +was a precious time for Frans when he translated the conversation +between these two veterans from life's battles--the one defeated, +wounded, near his death; the other humble, yet triumphant, victorious, +and soon to be summoned to the court of his King for a more than +abundant reward. + +"I am not fit to be the father of a boy like Nono," said Pietro one +day--"not fit to be his father." + +Pietro's old superstitious confidence in the religion of his country +had passed into a dull unbelief in all that was sacred. He had a +disease which Pelle found he could not reach. + +Then the colonel came and sat day by day in Pietro's room, and talked +to the poor Italian out of the fulness of his heart as he had never +talked to a human being before. There, in that small room, the colonel +won a victory greater than the triumphs of war. There he won a soul +for the heavenly King! The colonel, by nature so self-controlled, so +reticent, was moved to warmth and tender tears as Pietro grasped his +hand and thanked him for opening the way for his soul to the real +knowledge of God and holiness and peace. + +It was the first human being that the colonel had led in the way of +life, and Pietro was a precious treasure to him. + +Alma insisted upon being responsible for every expense that was +incurred for Pietro. She could do nothing more for him but remember +him in her prayers. The fair, slight girl, with the kindly look in her +dear blue eyes, seemed to him a thing quite apart from his life, +something he could not understand--that could not understand him. + +The time would come when Alma, now walking tremblingly herself in the +way of life, would be strong to help the weak and struggling, and lead +the wanderers gently home. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE OPENED DOOR. + +The sweet bells of Aneholm Church were cheerily ringing. The sunshine +shed a quiet gladness over the smooth meadows, and even the moist, dark +evergreens of the distant woods glittered in the clear light. + +Within the church, garlands of birch leaves hung here and there on the +white walls and festooned the carved pulpit. Green wreaths crowned the +golden angels that supported, each with one lifted hand, the sculptured +altar-piece; while in the other, outstretched, they loosely held wild +flowers, as if ready to strew them in the paths of the pilgrims bound +heavenward. The still marble figures that had so long sat watchers +beside the effigies on the great monuments of the honoured dead wore +now on their brows blue circlets of corn-flowers, as if to tell for +to-day of glad resurrection rather than of the dark tomb. + +Tiny floral processions seemed passing in long lines along the tops of +the simple wooden seats for the congregation; for the sconces that had +held the lights for many a service on a winter morning or evening were +now filled with bouquets, placed there by the children who had the day +before been confirmed in the quiet sanctuary. The flowers, like the +children, were from the rich man's garden or from the woods and +meadows--here choice roses or glowing verbenas, there buttercups and +daisies. + +To-day the newly confirmed, "the children of the Lord's Supper," were +to "come forward" for the first time to the holy communion. + +The colonel generally walked to church with Alma and Frans, but this +morning the carriage had been ordered for him. A friend was to be with +him who was not strong enough to go on foot to the service. The +doctor, who was carefully watching over Pietro, had said that it would +not be at all dangerous for him to have his desire gratified--to take +the holy communion at the sacred altar. His days were plainly +numbered; it but remained to make his decline as full as possible of +joy and peace. + +The poor old fellow was pleased to wear his fresh homely suit and the +broad-brimmed hat that reminded him so pleasantly of home. The +congregation were already assembled when the two entered--Pietro +leaning heavily on the arm of the colonel, who gently led him to the +corner of the pew that had been comfortably prepared for him. + +The preliminary service over, the children recently confirmed went +forward first to the communion, circling the chancel in solemn +stillness, while the prayers of the congregation went up for the young +disciples. Then came the elders to the holy table. Old Pelle and +Pietro knelt side by side, the latter staying himself by one hand on +the colonel's shoulder, as if he had been a brother. The Italian knew +nothing of the pride and stiffness of the early days of his friend. +The colonel was but to him the loving guide who had led him to the +heavenly kingdom. Their paths were soon to separate. Pietro was to be +summoned upward; the colonel was to linger and labour, and perhaps +suffer before he entered into rest. + +The future lay uncertain before the dwellers at Ekero and the golden +house, but they had nought to fear. They had opened the guest-chamber +of their hearts to the heavenly Visitant, and they would henceforward +be blessed by his continual presence. + +And Nono, who had so early admitted the sacred Friend? He did not see +his father on earth, but he had the glad hope of meeting him in the +true home above. Nono was to "make beautiful things," and had the +beautiful life of all who follow Him who is the spring and source of +beauty and purity and love. + + +"Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and +open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he +with me." + +"If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, +and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." + +"Be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come +in." + + + + +THE END. + + + + +The 'Royal' Libraries + +Of Reward Books in Uniform Bindings. + + +Containing a Selection of Messrs. Nelson and Sons' Popular Copyright +Tales and Standard Books by the best Authors. + +T. NELSON AND SONS, London, Edinburgh, and New York. + + + +The 'Royal' Two Shilling Library. + +Chronicles of the Schönberg-Cotta Family. By Mrs. RUNDLE CHARLES. + +The Spanish Brothers. By DEBORAH ALCOCK. + +Leonie; or, Light out of Darkness. By ANNIE LUCAS. + +Isabel's Secret; or, A Sister's Love. By the Author of "The Story of a +Happy Little Girl." + +Ivanhoe. By Sir WALTER SCOTT. + +The Triple Alliance. By HAROLD AVERY. + +The Uncharted Island. By SKELTON KUPPORD. + +In Palace and Faubourg. By C. J. G. + +Maud Melville's Marriage. By EVELYN EVERETT-GREEN. + +Kenilworth. By Sir WALTER SCOTT. + + + +The 'Royal' Eighteenpenny Library. + + +The Young Rajah. By W. H. G. KINGSTON. + +Boris the Bear-Hunter. By FRED. WHISHAW. + +Afar in the Forest. By W. H. G. KINGSTON. + +On Angels' Wings. By Hon. Mrs. GREENE. + +For the Queen's Sake. By E. EVERETT-GREEN. + +Winning the Victory. By E. EVERETT-GREEN. + +One Summer by the Sea. By J. M. CALLWELL. + +Esther's Charge. By EVELYN EVERETT-GREEN. + +Dulcie's Little Brother. By E. EVERETT-GREEN. + +Salome. By Mrs. EMMA MARSHALL. + + + +The 'Royal' Shilling Library. + + +The Coral Island. By R. M. BALLANTYNE. + +The Gorilla Hunters. By R. M. BALLANTYNE. + +Ungava. By R. M. 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A Story of the French Revolution. With Five +Illustrations by WAL PAGET. + + +In Savage Africa; or, The Adventures of Frank Baldwin from the Gold +Coast to Zanzibar. By VERNEY LOVETT CAMERON, C.B., D.C.L., Commander +Royal Navy; Author of "Jack Hooper," etc. With Thirty-two +Illustrations. + +"From the deft and prolific pen of Commander Lovett Cameron.... In the +course of a stirring narrative, of the kind in which boys most delight, +he succeeds in conveying much real knowledge about Africa, its +features, and its peoples."--Scotsman. + +Jack Hooper. His Adventures at Sea and in South Africa. By VERNEY +LOVETT CAMERON, C.B., D.C.L. With Twenty-three Full-page Illustrations. + +Every Inch a Sailor. By GORDON STABLES, M.D., R.N., Author of "As We +Sweep through the Deep," etc. Illus. + +"Between the reader, ourselves, and the binnacle, there isn't a living +writer--unless it be Clark Russell, and he appeals more to the +adult--who can hold a candle, or shall we say a starboard light, to +Gordon Stables as a narrator of sea stories for boys. This one is +worthy of the high traditions of the author."--Literary World. + +Held to Ransom. A Story of Spanish Brigands. By F. B. FORESTER, +Author of "The Spanish Cousin," "A Settler's Story," etc. Illustrated +by ARCHIBALD WEBB. + +Jack Ralston. A Tale of Life in the Far North-East of Canada. By +HAMPDEN BURNHAM, M.A., Author of "Canadians in the Imperial Service." +With Coloured Illustrations by WALTER GRIEVE. + +Kilgorman. A Story of Ireland in 1798. By TALBOT BAINES REED, Author +of "The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's," etc. Illustrated by JOHN +WILLIAMSON. With Portrait, and an "In Memoriam" Sketch of the Author +by JOHN SIME. + +With Pack and Rifle in the Far South-West. Adventures in New Mexico, +Arizona, and Central America. By ACHILLES DAUNT, Author of "Frank +Redcliffe," "The Three Trappers," etc. With Thirty Illustrations. + + + +"Red Rose" Library of Choice Books. + + +A carefully-selected List of Copyright Works. Specially suitable for +Gift-book, Lending Library, and P.S.A. Purposes. + + +Aiming Higher; or, Perseverance and Faithfulness Triumphant. By the +Rev. T. P. WILSON, M.A. + +The Better Way. A Tale of Temperance Toil. By WILLIAM J. LACEY. + +By Uphill Paths; or, Waiting and Winning. By E. VAN SOMMER. + +Chris Willoughby; or, Against the Current. By FLORENCE E. BURCH. + +Crooked Places. A Family Chronicle. By EDWARD GARRETT. + +Dorothy Arden. A Story of England and France Two Hundred Years Ago. +By J. M. CALLWELL. + +Edith Raymond, and the Story of Huldah Brent's Will. A Tale. By S. S. +ROBBINS. + +Fighting the Good Fight; or, The Successful Influence of Well-Doing. +By E. EVERETT-GREEN. + +Frank Oldfield; or, Lost and Found. By the Rev. T. P. WILSON, M.A. + +The Golden Woof. A Story of Two Girls' Lives. By Mrs. I. SITWELL. + +Lionel Franklin's Victory. By E. VAN SOMMER. + +Little Miss Wardlaw. The Story of an Unselfish Life. By L. M. GRAY. + +The Lost Ring. A Romance of Scottish History in the Days of King James +and Andrew Melville. + +Molly's Heroine. By "FLEUR DE LYS." + +The Naresborough Victory. By the Rev. T. KEYWORTH. + +Nellie O'Neil; or, Our Summer Time. By AGNES C. MAITLAND. + +No Cross no Crown. A Tale of the Scottish Reformation. By the Author +of "The Spanish Brothers." + +Owen's Hobby; or, Strength and Weakness. A Tale. By ELMER BURLEIGH. + +Pincherton Farm. By E. A. B. D. + +Premiums Paid to Experience. Incidents in my Business Life. By EDWARD +GARRETT. + +Right at Last; or, Family Fortunes. A Tale. By EDWARD GARRETT, Author +of "Occupations of a Retired Life." + +Stepping Heavenward. A Tale of Home Life. By Mrs. PRENTISS. + + + +The "Coronet" Series. + + +Suitable for Sunday School and Presentation Purposes. + + +Almost a Hero; or, School Days at Ashcombe. By ROBERT RICHARDSON. + +Anna Lee. The Maiden--the Wife--the Mother. By T. S. ARTHUR. + +Aunt Sally. By CONSTANCE MILMAN. + +Esther Reid. By PANSY. + +The Flower of the Family. A Tale of Domestic Life. By Mrs. PRENTISS. + +Gladys or Gwenyth? The Story of a Mistake. By E. EVERETT-GREEN. + +The Hermit of Livry. A Story of the Sixteenth Century at the Dawn of +the Reformation. By M. R. H. + +The Mystery of Alton Grange. By E. EVERETT-GREEN. + +A New Graft on the Family Tree. By PANSY. + +Not Thrown Away, but Given; or, The Story of Marion's Hero. By Mrs. F. +S. REANEY, Author of "Our Daughters," etc. + +Out in the World. By PANSY. + +Rose and Thorn. A Story for the Young. By KATHARINE LEE BATES. + +Shenac. 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Intended to Show the Reasoning Powers +which they Possess. + +Favourite Rhymes for the Nursery. + +The Favourite Book of Fables. _Containing_:--The Cock and the +Jewel--The Wolf and the Lamb--The Fox and the Lion--Hercules and the +Carter--The Fox and the Goat--The Stag in the Ox-stall--The Vain +Jackdaw, etc. + +Favourite Stories for the Nursery. _Containing_:--Ali Baba and the +Forty Thieves--Hop o' my Thumb, and the Seven League Boots--Children in +the Wood--Tom Thumb--Little Red Riding Hood, etc. + +Favourite Tales for the Nursery. + +Riddles and Rhymes. + + +T. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Golden House + +Author: Mrs. Woods Baker + +Release Date: March 17, 2009 [EBook #28349] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN HOUSE *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="Nono and the princess" BORDER="2" WIDTH="329" HEIGHT="458"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 329px"> +Nono and the princess +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-vignette"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-vignette.jpg" ALT="Vignette" BORDER="0" WIDTH="309" HEIGHT="475"> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE GOLDEN HOUSE +</H1> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +BY MRS. WOODS BAKER +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK +<BR> +THOMAS NELSON AND SONS +<BR> +1903 +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +<I>CONTENTS</I> +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">Black Eyes and Blue</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">Karin's Flock</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">Aneholm Church</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">No Secrets</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">An Artist</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">The Boys</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">A Young Teacher</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">In Alma's Room.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">Karin's Fête</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">The Little Cottage</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">The Slide</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">A Pedestrian Trip</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">The Princess</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">Where?</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">The Birthday Gift</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">Spectacles</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">Questionings</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">Nono's Plans, and Plans for Nono</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">Pietro</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">The Opened Door</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +<I>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</I> +</H2> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +Nono and the princess</A> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece. +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-vignette"> +Nono's gift to Alma</A> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vignette. +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-015"> +"He thrust out both hands as if throwing gifts in lavish profusion" +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-027"> +The baptismal service +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-062"> +"The first verse of a hymn was dictated to him" +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-074"> +The model house +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-142"> +Frans admonished +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-161"> +"She had seen the hand-organ man from the window" +</A> +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE GOLDEN HOUSE. +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BLACK EYES AND BLUE. +</H3> + +<P> +A dreary little group was trudging along a Swedish highroad one bright +October morning. It was a union between north and south, and like many +other unions, not altogether founded on love. The bear, the prominent +member of the party, was a Swede, and a Swede in a very bad humour. +The iron ring in his torn nose, and the stout stick in the hand of one +of his Italian masters, showed very plainly that he needed stern +discipline. Now he dragged at the strong rope attached to the iron +ring, and held back, moving his clumsy legs as if his machinery were +out of order, or at least as if goodwill were lacking to give it a fair +start. +</P> + +<P> +The broad hats of the two men were gloomily slouched over their eyes; +for they were thoroughly chilled, having passed the night in the open +air for want of shelter. The woman, brown, thin, and bare-headed, +coughed, and pressed her hand to her breast, where a stiff bundle was +hidden under her shawl. +</P> + +<P> +They rounded a little turn in the road, hitherto shut in by high +spruces, and came suddenly in sight of a cottage of yellow pine, that +glowed cheerfully against its dark background of evergreens. +</P> + +<P> +"We stop at the golden house," said the older of the men, the bearer of +the organ, and evidently the leader as well as the musician of the +party. +</P> + +<P> +The younger Italian laughed a scornful laugh as he said in his own +language, "Only poor people live there." +</P> + +<P> +"We stop at the golden house!" commanded his companion, adding, "It +brings good luck to play for the poor." +</P> + +<P> +The cottage had its gable end to the road, while its broadside was +turned towards the southern sunshine, the well-kept vegetable-garden +and the pretty flower-beds in front of the windows. +</P> + +<P> +The gate was open, and the Italians came in stealthily—an art they had +learned to perfection. One little turn of the hand-organ and the bear +rose to his hind legs. The open door of the cottage was suddenly +filled. Round-faced, rosy, fair-haired, and eager were they +all—father and mother and six boys. They had evidently been disturbed +at a meal, for in their hands they held great pieces of hard brown +bread, in various stages of consumption. +</P> + +<P> +Eyes and mouths opened wide as the performance went on, and Bruin had +every reason to be satisfied with his share of the praise bestowed on +the entertainment, as well as on his personal appearance. He was a +young bear, and his brown coat looked as soft as plush, and it was no +wonder that two-year-old Sven whispered to his mother, "Me want to kiss +the pretty bear!" +</P> + +<P> +Sven judged Bruin by his clothing, not by his wicked little eyes or his +ugly mouth, which was by no means kissable. +</P> + +<P> +The performance over, bread and milk were liberally passed round to the +strangers, the bear having more than his fair portion. +</P> + +<P> +"Come in and sit a bit," said the tidy mother to the dark young woman. +</P> + +<P> +The answer was a pointing to the ear and a shaking of the head, which +said plainly, "I don't understand Swedish." +</P> + +<P> +The kindly beckoning that followed could not be mistaken, and the +Italian woman went into the cottage, glad to sit down in the one room +of which the interior consisted. One room it was, but large, and airy +too; for it not only stretched from outer wall to outer wall, but from +the floor to the high slanting roof. The rafters that crossed it here +and there were hung with homely stores—bags of beans and pease, and +slender poles strung with flat cakes of hard bread, far out of the +reach of the children. +</P> + +<P> +The Italian opened her shawl and took out a little brown baby, wrapped +up as stiff as a stick. It was evidently hungry enough, and not at all +satisfied when it was again tucked away under the shawl. +</P> + +<P> +Half by single words and half by signs the two mothers managed to talk +together. Swedish Karin soon knew that Francesca was ill, and was +going home to Italy as soon as her husband had money enough to pay +their passage. There was a wild look in the dark woman's eyes and a +fierceness in her gestures that made Karin almost afraid of her. When +the stranger had put into her pocket a bottle of milk that had been +given her, and a big cake of bread, she got up suddenly to go. +</P> + +<P> +It was evident there was to be another performance—a kind of +expression of thanks for the hospitality received. The bear stood up +and shook paws with the men, we may say; for the brown hands of the +Italians had a strange kind of an animal look about them. The clumsy +creature walked hither and thither, and then towered proudly behind his +two masters, looking down on their heads as if it gave him satisfaction +to prove that he was their superior in size at least. +</P> + +<P> +Francesca now took out her baby, and began to toss it high in the air, +catching it as it fell, and dancing meanwhile as if in delight. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps the bear took offence that the attention of all beholders was +turned from himself. He made one stride towards the descending baby, +and opened and shut his great mouth with a wicked snap close to the +child. +</P> + +<P> +The Italian mother laughed a loud, wild laugh, and turned her back to +the bear, who put his two strong paws on her shoulder. A heavy blow +from the stout stick of the younger Italian brought him down on all +fours in a state of discontented submission. +</P> + +<P> +Karin had swept her children inside the wide door of the cottage, and +then Francesca was hurried in too with her baby. +</P> + +<P> +The leader of the party pointed after her, and then to his own head, +moving his thin hands first rapidly backwards and forwards, and +afterwards round and round, so describing the confusion in the poor +woman's brain as well as if he had said, "She is as crazy as a loon." +</P> + +<P> +Karin's eyes grew large with horror. She drew her husband round the +corner of the house and said, "Jan, I can't see that crazy woman go off +with the baby. Let me keep it!" +</P> + +<P> +"We have mouths enough to feed already," said the husband, and the +sturdy giant looked down, not unkindly, into the appealing eyes. His +face softened as he saw the little black bow at her throat, her only +week-day sign of mourning for her own little baby, so lately laid in +the grave. +</P> + +<P> +"He will cost us almost nothing for a long time," she said, "and he can +wear my little Gustaf's clothes. Perhaps God has let our little boy up +in heaven send this baby to me to take his place." +</P> + +<P> +"You are a good woman, Karin, and you ought to have your way," said the +husband; and she knew she had his consent. +</P> + +<P> +Francesca looked back with approval on the cheerful room as she came +out, then stooped to pick a bit of mignonnette that grew by the steps. +</P> + +<P> +Karin stretched out her hands, took the little brown baby in her arms, +pointed to the black bow at her throat, and quickly made a sign of +laying a baby low in a grave. Then she pressed the little stranger +close, close to her heart, and moved as if she would go into the +cottage with him. +</P> + +<P> +A light gleamed in Francesca's eyes, and a tear actually glittered on +her husband's black eyelashes. +</P> + +<P> +"I keep the child," said Karin distinctly, turning to the man. +</P> + +<P> +He bowed his head solemnly, and said, "I leave him." Then he pointed +suddenly up to the sky, stretching his arm to its full length; then he +thrust out both hands freely towards her again and again, as if +throwing gifts in lavish profusion. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-015"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-015.jpg" ALT=""He thrust out both hands, as if throwing gifts in lavish profusion."" BORDER="2" WIDTH="328" HEIGHT="463"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 328px"> +"He thrust out both hands, as if throwing gifts in lavish profusion." +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Karin understood his "God will reward you abundantly" as well as if it +had been spoken in words. She kissed the little brown baby in reply, +and the father knew that crazy Francesca's child had found a mother's +love. +</P> + +<P> +The men bowed and waved their hands, and the bear followed them +lumberingly out through the gate. Francesca lingered a moment, then +caught up a stick from within the enclosure, where Jan had been lately +chopping. She wrapped it hastily in her shawl, and went off with a +long, wild laugh. +</P> + +<P> +The Swedes watched the party make their way along the road, until they +came to a turn that was to hide them from sight. There the Italians +swung their broad hats, and Francesca threw the stick high in the air +and caught it in her hands, as a parting token. +</P> + +<P> +Karin pressed the little stranger to her mother's heart, and thanked +God that he was left to her care. +</P> + +<P> +So the little Italian came to the golden house—the black eyes among +the blue. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +KARIN'S FLOCK. +</H3> + +<P> +There was a family group in the big room at the golden house. The +mother sat in the centre, with the brown baby on her knee. The heads +of the six fair-haired children were bent down over the new treasure +like a cluster of rough-hewn angels in the Bethlehem scene, as carved +out by some reverent artist of old. With a puzzled, half-pleased +glance the stalwart father looked down upon them all, like a benignant +giant. +</P> + +<P> +"Is he really our own little baby now?" said one of the children. +</P> + +<P> +"What shall we call him?" asked another. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll name him, of course, after the bear," said the oldest boy, who +liked to take the lead in the family. "I heard the man call him +Pionono, and he said the bear knew his name." +</P> + +<P> +"We won't call him after that horrid bear!" exclaimed Karin. +</P> + +<P> +"Uncle Björn is as nice as anybody, and his name is just 'bear,'" urged +one of the boys. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't contrary your mother," said Jan decidedly. "Pionono is too long +a name. We'll call him Nono, and that's a nice name, to my thinking." +</P> + +<P> +"A nice, pretty little name," said the mother, "and I like it." +</P> + +<P> +And so the matter was settled. The little brown baby was to be called +after a pope and bear, in Protestant Sweden. Nono (the ninth) suited +him better than any one around him suspected. The tiny Italian was +really the ninth baby that had come to the golden house. Karin had now +six children. She had laid her firstborn in the grave long ago, and +lately her little Gustaf had been placed beside him in the churchyard. +</P> + +<P> +Classification simplified matters in Karin's family, as elsewhere. The +children were divided by common consent into three pairs, known as the +boys, the twins, and the little boys. For each division the laws and +privileges were fixed and unalterable. "The boys," Erik and Oke, were +the oldest pair. Erik was at present a smaller edition of his father, +with a fair promise of a full development in the same direction. Now, +at twelve years of age, he was almost as tall as his mother, and could +have mastered her at any time in a fair fight. Oke, a year younger, +was pale, and slight, and stooping, with a thin, straight nose, quite +out of keeping with the large, strongly-marked features of the rest of +the children. As for "the twins," it was difficult to think of them as +two boys. They were so much alike that their mother could hardly tell +them apart. Indeed, she had a vague idea that she might have changed +them without knowing it many times since they were baptized. How could +she be sure that the one she called Adam was not Enos, and Enos the +true Adam? Of two things she was certain—that she loved them both as +well as a mother ever loved a pair of twins, and that they were worthy +of anybody's unlimited affection. She was proud of them, too. Were +they not known the country round as Jan Persson's splendid twins, and +the fattest boys in the parish? As for "the little boys," they were +much like the Irishman's "little pig who jumped about so among the +others he never could count him." "The little boys" were always to be +found in unexpected and exceptionable places, to the great risk of life +and limb, and the great astonishment of the beholders. To try to ride +on a strange bull-dog or kiss a bear was quite a natural exploit for +them, for they feared neither man nor beast. +</P> + +<P> +As for Karin, she was not a worrying woman, and took the care of her +many children cheerily. She could but do her best, and leave the rest +to God and the holy angels. Those precious protectors had lately +seemed very near to her, since baby Gustaf had gone to live among them. +That all would go right with Nono she did not doubt. When she laid him +down for the night, she clasped his tiny brown hands, and prayed not +only for him, but for his poor mother, wherever she might be, and left +her to the care of the merciful Friend who could give to wild lunatics +full soundness of mind. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ANEHOLM CHURCH. +</H3> + +<P> +Sunday had come. Along the public road, where the Italians and the +bear had lately passed, rolled a heavy family carriage, drawn by two +spirited horses. The gray-haired coachman had them well in hand, and +by no means needed the advice or the assistance of the fat little boy +perched at his side, though both were freely proffered. The child was +dressed in deep mourning, but his clothes alone gave any sign of +sorrow. His face gleamed with delight as he was borne along between +green fields, or played bo-peep with the distant cottages, through a +solemn line of spruces or a glad cluster of young birches. +</P> + +<P> +On the comfortable back seat of the carriage was an elderly gentleman, +tall, thin, and stooped, with eyes that saw nothing of earth or sky, as +his thoughts were in the far past, or in the clouds of the sorrowful +present. By his side, close pressed to him, with her small +black-gloved hand laid on his knee, sat a little nine-year-old girl, +her sad-coloured suit in strange contrast with the flood of golden hair +that streamed from under her hat, and fell in shining waves down to her +slight waist. The fair young face was very serious, and the mild blue +eyes were full of loving light, as she now and then peeped cautiously +at her father. He did not notice the child, and she made no effort to +attract his attention. +</P> + +<P> +"Papa! papa! what's that? what's that?" suddenly cried out the little +boy. "What's that that's so like the gingerbread baby Marie made me +yesterday? Just such a skirt, and little short arms!" +</P> + +<P> +The father's attention was caught, and he turned his eyes in the +direction pointed out by the child's eager finger. +</P> + +<P> +The sweet sound of a bell came from the strange brown wooden structure, +an old-time belfry, set not on a roof or a tower, but down on the +ground. Slanting out wide at the bottom, to have a firm footing, it +did look like a rag-dolly standing on her skirts, or a gingerbread +baby, as the young stranger had said. +</P> + +<P> +A stranger truly in the land of his fathers was fat little Frans. +Alma, his sister, had often reproached him with the facts that he had +never seen his own country and could hardly speak his own language. +Born in Italy, he had now come to Sweden for the first time, with the +funeral train which bore the lifeless image of his mother to a +resting-place in her much-loved northern home. +</P> + +<P> +"Is that the church, papa?" Alma ventured to ask, seeing her father +partially roused from his reverie. +</P> + +<P> +The barn-like building was without any attempt at adornment. There was +no tower. The black roof rose high, very high and steep from the +thick, low white walls, that were pierced by a line of small rounded +windows. +</P> + +<P> +"That is Aneholm Church," the father said, half reprovingly. "There +your maternal ancestors are buried, and there their escutcheons stand +till this day. I need not tell you who is now laid in that churchyard." +</P> + +<P> +He turned his face from the loving eyes of the child, and she was +silent. +</P> + +<P> +A few more free movements of the swift horses, and the carriage stopped +before a white-arched gateway. A wall of high old lindens shut in the +churchyard from the world without, if world the green pastures, quiet +groves, and low cottages could be called. It was but a small +enclosure, and thick set with old monuments and humbler memorials, open +books of iron on slender supports, their inscriptions dimmed by the +rust of time, small stones set up by loving peasant hands, and one +fresh grave covered with evergreen branches. Alma understood that on +that grave she must place the wreath of white flowers that had lain in +her lap, and there her father would lay the one beautiful fair lily he +held in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +This tribute of love was paid in mournful silence, and then the father +and the children passed into the simple old sanctuary. +</P> + +<P> +The church was even more peculiar within than without. It was white +everywhere—walls, ceiling, and the plain massive pillars of strong +masonry on which rested the low round arches. It looked more like a +crypt under some great building than if it were itself the temple. The +small windows, crossed by iron gratings, added to the prison-like +effect of the whole. It was but a prison for the air of the latest +summer days, shut in there to greet the worshippers, instead of the +chill that might have been expected. +</P> + +<P> +Warm was the atmosphere, and warm the colouring of the heraldic devices +telling in armorial language what noble families had there treasured +their dead. The altar, without chancel-rail, stood on a +crimson-covered platform. On each side of it, at a respectful +distance, were two stately monuments, on which two marble heroes were +resting, one in full armour, and the other in elaborate court-dress. +Alma could see that there were many names on the largest of these +monuments, and her eyes filled with tears as she saw her mother's dear +name, freshly cut below the list of her honoured ancestors. +</P> + +<P> +The father did not look at the monument, or round the church at all. +With eyes cast down, he entered a long wide pew, with a heraldic device +on the light arch above the door. Prudently first placing little Frans +at the end of the bare bench, he took his place, with Alma on the other +side of him. +</P> + +<P> +The church was almost empty. A few old bald-headed peasants were +scattered here and there, and on the organ-loft stairs clattered the +thick shoes of the school children, who were to assist in the singing. +</P> + +<P> +The father bowed his head too long for the opening prayer. Alma +understood that he had forgotten himself in his own sad thoughts. Her +little slender hand sought his, that hung at his side, and her fragile +figure crowded protectively towards him. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile Frans had produced two bonbons, wrapped in mourning-paper, +and with hour-glasses and skeletons gloomily pictured upon them. He +was engaged in counting the ribs of the skeletons, to make sure that +the number was the same on both, when Alma caught sight of him. The +gentle, loving look in her face changed suddenly to one of sour +reproof. She motioned disapprovingly to Frans, and vainly tried to get +at him behind the rigid figure of her father. Before her very eyes, +and in smiling defiance, the boy opened the black paper and devoured +the sweets within, with evident relish, bodily and spiritual. +</P> + +<P> +At this moment there was a stir in the vestibule and in the sacristy +adjoining, and then a murmur of low, hushed voices, and for a moment +the tramping of many little feet. +</P> + +<P> +Alma looked around her, and now noticed on the platform for the altar a +small white-covered table, and upon it a little homely bowl and a +folded napkin. Beside the table a gray-haired old clergyman had taken +his place. In one hand he held officially a corner of his open white +handkerchief, while in the other was a thin black book. +</P> + +<P> +There was a slight shuffling first, and then a tall man, with +apparently a very stout woman at his side, came up the aisle and stood +in front of the clergyman. +</P> + +<P> +"It cannot be a wedding," thought Alma, accustomed to the splendid +fonts of the churches of great cities; she could not suppose that +simple household bowl was for a baptism. The broken, disabled stone +font she did not notice, as it leaned helplessly against the side wall +of the building. +</P> + +<P> +The clergyman opened his book and looked about him, doubtfully turned +over the leaves, and then began the service "for the baptism of a +foundling," as the most appropriate for the present peculiar +circumstances that the time-honoured ritual afforded. +</P> + +<P> +At that moment Karin threw open her shawl, and showed the little brown +baby asleep in her arms. Alma's attention was fixed, and Frans was all +observation, if not attention. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-027"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-027.jpg" ALT="The baptismal service." BORDER="2" WIDTH="326" HEIGHT="457"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 326px"> +The baptismal service. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"Beloved Christians," began the pastor; he paused, glanced at the +scattered worshippers, and then went on, "our Lord Jesus Christ has +said, 'Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter +into the kingdom of God.' We do not know whether this child has been +baptized or no, since, against the command of the heavenly Father, and +even the very laws and feelings of nature, he has been forsaken by his +own father and mother." +</P> + +<P> +Here Karin gave involuntarily a little dissenting movement as she +thought of the half-crazy mother and the sorrowful father, and made the +mental comment that they had done the best they could under the +circumstances. The pastor paused (perhaps doubting himself the +appropriateness of the statement), and then read distinctly,— +</P> + +<P> +"Therefore we will carry out what Christian love demands of us, and +through baptism confide the child to God, our Saviour Jesus Christ, +praying most heartily that he will graciously receive it, and grant it +the power of his Spirit unto faith, forgiveness of sins, and true +godliness, that it, as a faithful member of his church, may be a +partaker of all the blessedness that Jesus has won for us and +Christianity promises." +</P> + +<P> +The service then proceeded as usual, and the little Nono was baptized +in God's holy name. +</P> + +<P> +Jan and Karin were duly exhorted that they should see that the child +should grow up in virtue and the fear of the Lord; which promises and +resolutions the honest pair solemnly determined, with God's help, to +sacredly keep and fulfil. +</P> + +<P> +Nono was borne down the aisle, having acquitted himself as well as +could be expected on this important occasion. The eager prisoners in +the pew by the door now filed out, six in number, to form little Nono's +baptismal procession. Sven, insisting upon kissing the baby then and +there, was prudently allowed to do so, to prevent possibly an +exhibition of wilfulness that would have been a public scandal. This +proceeding well over, Nono and his foster-brothers went back to the +golden house, in which he now had a right to a footing, and the +blessing of a home in a Christian family. +</P> + +<P> +Alma could never remember anything of the service or the sermon on that +day. Her attention had been fully absorbed in the baptism of the wee +brown baby whose parents had deserted him, and in whom the "beloved +Christians" of the parish had been called on to take so solemn an +interest. +</P> + +<P> +Before leaving the church, Alma's father gave one long, sorrowful +glance at the new name on the old monument. Beside it the old +clergyman had taken them all by the hand, and had said some +low-murmured words of which the little girl could not catch the meaning. +</P> + +<P> +"Papa," Alma ventured to say when they were fairly seated in the +carriage, "did not the pastor mean you and me, too, when he said +'beloved Christians'? We were there, and only a few other people, and +he must have meant us too. We are Christians, of course, are we not?" +</P> + +<P> +He turned his large sorrowful eyes towards her, and was silent. <I>She</I> +might be a Christian. The Saviour had said that children were of the +kingdom of heaven. But she was no longer a very little child, but +uncommonly womanly for her age. He suddenly remembered some +unchristian peculiarities that were certainly growing upon her. She +must be looked after, and placed where she would be under the right +kind of influence. Her small hand was now laid caressingly on his +knee, and he placed his own over it. +</P> + +<P> +Alma was not astonished at her father not answering her. She was +accustomed to see him sunk in moody silence. Happily she could not +read the thoughts that her question had suggested. That he was not +truly one of the "beloved Christians" the father secretly acknowledged +to himself. He had not, he was sure, the firm faith in God and the +loving trust in man that belong to the children of the kingdom of +heaven. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +NO SECRETS. +</H3> + +<P> +The children at the golden house had been regaled with milk and white +biscuits in honour of Nono's baptism, and were enjoying the treat in +the grove behind the cottage. +</P> + +<P> +Nono lay on Karin's knee, and she was looking fondly at him, while Jan +stood silently beside her. +</P> + +<P> +"I am a kind of a mother to him now, a real god-mother," she said. "I +don't mean to tell him that he is not quite my own child. I mean to +love him just like the others, and he shall never feel like a stranger +here." +</P> + +<P> +"Now you are quite wrong, Karin," said Jan, with a very serious look in +his face. "He isn't your own child, and you can't make him so by +hiding the truth from him. Tell him from the very first how it was. +He won't love you the less because he was a stranger and you took him +in. It would be a poor way to bring him up so that he will 'grow in +virtue and the fear of the Lord,' as we promised this morning, to begin +by telling him what wasn't true right straight along. What would he +think of you when he found out in the end that you had been deceiving +him ever since he could remember? And the other children, too; they +know all about it. Could you make them promise to pretend, like you, +that Nono was their own brother? No good ever comes of going from the +truth. That's my notion!" +</P> + +<P> +Jan stood up very straight as he finished, and sitting as Karin was, he +seemed to her in every way high above her. +</P> + +<P> +"You are right, Jan," she answered sorrowfully. "I suppose I must do +as you say. I did so want him to be really my own, just like my little +Gustaf." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Your</I> little Gustaf, <I>our</I> little Gustaf, is in a good place, and I +hope Nono will be there too sometime," said Jan. +</P> + +<P> +"Not Nono in heaven yet!" said Karin, pressing the dark baby to her +breast. "I cannot spare him, and I don't believe God will take him." +</P> + +<P> +"Now you are foolish, Karin. That was not what I meant," said Jan +tenderly. "You bring him up right, and he will come sometime where +Gustaf is, and that's what we ought to want most for him." Jan paused +a moment, and then went on: "Somehow those words of the baptism took +hold of me to-day as they never did before, not even when my owny tony +children were baptized. I mean to be the right kind of a godfather to +him if I can." +</P> + +<P> +Jan kept his resolution. He could sometimes be rough and hasty with +his own boys when he was tired or particularly worried; towards Nono he +was always kind, and just, and wise. Somehow there had entered into +his honest heart the meaning of the words, "I was a stranger, and ye +took me in." What was done for Nono was, in a way, done for the Master. +</P> + +<P> +Karin did not reason much about her feelings for the black-eyed boy who +was growing up in the cottage. She gave him a mother's love in full +abundance. If little Nono had no sunny Italian skies above him, he had +the sunshine of a happy home, and real affection in the golden house. +</P> + +<P> +From the very first Nono heard the truth as to how he came to be living +in the cold north. Before he could speak, the story of the bear and +the Italians had been again and again told in his presence. Of course, +every one who saw the black-eyed, brown-skinned child inquired how he +came among the frowzy white heads of his foster-brothers. The picture +of the whole scene grew by degrees so perfect in Nono's mind, that he +really believed he had been a witness of as well as a prominent +partaker in the performance. It was only by severe reproof and +reproach on the part of the other children that he was made to +understand that he had been only a baby "so long" (the Swedish boys +held their hands very near together on such occasions), while they had +had the honour of seeing the very whole, and remembered it as perfectly +as if it had happened yesterday, as probably some of them did. +</P> + +<P> +So Nono had to take a humble place as a mere listener when the +oft-repeated story was told, with every particular carefully preserved +among the many eye-witnesses. +</P> + +<P> +"But I love him just as well as if he were my own," was Karin's +unfailing close to such conversations, with a caress for the little +Italian that sealed the truth of her assertion. +</P> + +<P> +Nono loved his foster-mother with the grateful affection of his warm +southern nature. Yet the very name Italy had for him a magical charm, +and the sound of a hand-organ, or the sight of a dark-faced man with a +broad-brimmed hat, made him thrill with a half joy that his own kith +and kin were coming, and a half fear that he was to be taken away from +the pleasant cottage and all the love that surrounded him. Bears had a +perfect fascination for him, but all the specimens he saw were rough +and ragged. No bear, the family were all sure, had ever had such a +beautiful brown coat of fur as that Pionono that Sven had been so +anxious to kiss. +</P> + +<P> +Nono's favourite text in the Bible was the one that expressed the +youthful David's reliance on God when he went out to meet the insolent +Goliath: "The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and +out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from this Philistine." +The Philistine stood for any and all threatening dangers of soul and +body, and this passage cheered the little Italian through many a +childish trouble, and many an encounter with the big boys from the +village, who delighted to assail him in solitary places, and reproach +him with being an outlandish stranger, living on charity, and not as +much of a Swede as the ugly bear he was named after. +</P> + +<P> +All the warmer seemed to Nono the sheltering affection of Karin, +contrasted with these frequent attacks from without. His gratitude +expressed itself in an enthusiastic devotion to Karin, and a delight in +doing her the slightest service. +</P> + +<P> +"Nono sets a good example to the other boys," said Jan one day. "I +don't know, Karin, what he wouldn't be glad to do for you. Our own +little rascals get all they can out of 'mother,' and hardly take the +trouble to say 'Thank you.' As for thinking to help you, that always +falls on Nono." +</P> + +<P> +"Our boys are much towards me as we are to our heavenly Father, I +think. We seem to take it for granted he will give us what We need, +and that's all there is of it. At least that's the way I am, Jan." +</P> + +<P> +Karin liked to make an excuse for her children when she thought Jan was +a little hard upon them. +</P> + +<P> +"I won't forget that, Karin, when I'm put out, as I am sometimes with +the boys," answered Jan. "They are not a bad set, anyhow, to be so +many. I know I am not half as thankful as I ought to be: not in bed a +day since I can remember." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN ARTIST. +</H3> + +<P> +Time slipped away rapidly at the golden house. There had been many +pleasant family scenes, both within and around the cottage, since Nono +had been so tenderly welcomed there, eight years before. +</P> + +<P> +It was a bright July morning. The bit of a rye-field on the other side +of the road stood in the summer sunshine in tempting perfection. The +harvesting had begun, in a slow though it might be a sure manner. A +tall, spare old man, his hat laid aside, and his few scattered gray +locks fluttering in the gentle breeze, was the only reaper. His shirt +sleeves rolled up above the elbows showed his meagre, bony arms. His +thin neck and breast were bare, as he suffered from heat from his +unwonted labour. The scythe moved slowly, and the old man stopped +often to draw a long breath. Near him stood a fair-haired, sturdy +little girl, who held up her apron full of corn flowers, as blue as the +eyes that looked so approvingly upon them. They were in the midst of a +chat in a moment of rest, when a figure, strange and interesting to +them both, came along the road with a light, free step. +</P> + +<P> +The new-comer was a tall young girl, with a white parasol in her hand, +though her wide-brimmed hat seemed enough to keep her fair face from +being browned by the glad sunshine. She stopped suddenly when she came +in front of the cottage, and fixed her eyes on the old man and the +child with an expression of astonished delight. "Charming! beautiful! +I must paint them," she said to herself. +</P> + +<P> +The stranger put down the camp-stool she had on her arm, and screwed +into its back her parasol with the long handle. She sat down at once +and opened her box, where paper and pallet and all manner of +conveniences for amateur painters were admirably arranged. "Please, +please stand still," she said; "just as you are. I want to paint you." +</P> + +<P> +"I have to stop often to rest; but I must work while I can. I don't +want to be idle if I am old. I can't do a real day's work; but I can +get something done if I am industrious," said the gray-haired labourer +hesitatingly. +</P> + +<P> +The child seemed to notice something sorrowful in the tone of her +companion's voice, and she came quickly to his aid, saying,— +</P> + +<P> +"Uncle Pelle is the best man in the world. Mother says he'll never +teach us anything that isn't just right. He does a good bit of work, +father says, and he knows." +</P> + +<P> +The little girl was evidently accustomed to be listened to, and did not +stand in awe of this stranger or any other. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall pay you both if you hold still awhile and let me take your +picture; and that will be just as well for Uncle Pelle as cutting +grain, and lighter work, too. You can talk if you want to, but you +must not stir while I am making a real likeness of you." +</P> + +<P> +"As the young lady pleases," said the old man, with a look of +resignation. "I want to be useful." +</P> + +<P> +"Is that your uncle, child?" asked the young artist. "I thought, of +course, it was your grandfather." Then looking towards the old man she +added, "Do you live here?" and she nodded towards the golden house. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't live anywhere," said the old man sorrowfully. "The poorhouse +in Aneholm parish and the poorhouse in Tomtebacke, some way from here, +can't agree which should keep me, and now they are lawing about it. +I've had a fever, and I seem to be broke down. I don't belong anywhere +just now, but Karin there in the house says I'm a kind of relation of +hers, though it puzzles me to see how. She wants me to stay with them +till all is settled; and Jan, who mostly lets her have her way, tells +me he hasn't anything against it. So you see I like to do a turn of +work if I can, if it's only to show I'm thankful. Karin says she's +used to a big family, and it seems lonesome since her oldest son went +to America, and I must take his place. I don't live in the cottage. +There are enough of 'em there without me. They've fixed me up a place +alongside of Star—that's the cow." +</P> + +<P> +"It's a dear little room," said the child, "and we all like to be +there; but Uncle Pelle shuts the door sometimes, and won't let us in." +</P> + +<P> +"Old folks must have their quiet spells," said the old man +apologetically. +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't just to be quiet, you know, Uncle Pelle. Mother says Uncle +Pelle reads good books when he is alone, and makes good prayers, too; +and he's a blessing to the family," said the little girl, who seemed to +consider herself the friend and patron of her companion. +</P> + +<P> +"She's a bit spoiled. The only girl, you see. There were six boys +before, not counting Nono or the two boys that died." +</P> + +<P> +"Nono!" exclaimed the stranger. "That was the name of the little brown +baby I saw baptized in Aneholm church, eight years ago, when I was at +home before, just for a few days." +</P> + +<P> +"It is a queer name," said Uncle Pelle. "The pastor said it meant the +ninth, as the Italians talk; and so when this little girl came, he said +Karin and Jan might as well call her Decima, which was like the tenth, +in Swedish. And they did. They about make a fool of her in the +family; and I ain't much better. That's Nono behind you." +</P> + +<P> +A slight dark boy had been standing quietly watching the young stranger +while she skilfully handled her brushes. He now stepped forward, took +off the little straw hat of his own braiding, and bowed, without any +sheepish confusion. +</P> + +<P> +"Here's Nono!" said Decima, placing herself beside him, as if she had a +special right to exhibit him to the stranger. +</P> + +<P> +"And so you are Nono," said Alma. "I have always felt as if you +belonged in a way to me. Where did the people who live here find you?" +</P> + +<P> +"They didn't find me at all; they took me, and have brought me up as if +I was their own child," said Nono, his eyes sparkling. +</P> + +<P> +The story of the Italians and the bear was told by Nono, as usual, and +the scene most vividly described by word and gesture. Decima did not +pretend that she knew more than he did on this subject, and indeed he +was quite her oracle in all matters. She thought Nono a pink of +perfection; and well she might, for he had been her playmate and +guardian ever since she could remember. It was confidently affirmed in +the family that Nono could, from the first, make her laugh and show her +dimples as she would not for any one else. Nono had soon learned that +he could be a help to Karin with the baby, and was always more willing +than were her rough brothers to be tied to the child's little +apron-string. +</P> + +<P> +Nono had hardly finished his story when the young lady took out the +smallest watch imaginable and looked hastily at it. She gathered up +her painting apparatus in a great hurry, and was off with a hasty +good-bye, saying her father would be expecting her home to dinner, but +she would see them again soon and finish her picture. She had almost +forgotten in her hurry the money she had promised, but she suddenly +remembered that part of the transaction, and left in the old man's +hand, as he said, "more than enough to pay for a whole day's work, just +for standing still, that little bit, to be painted." +</P> + +<P> +Alma was soon out of sight of Pelle and Decima, who followed her with +their wondering eyes as she sped along the road towards her pleasant +home. The one thing about which her father could be severe with her +was being late at meals. But for this severity, he would often have +dined without her; for Alma was full of absorbing hobbies, and when +anything interested her, food and sleep were to her matters of no +consequence. Now her brain was revolving a new scheme. Alma had been +for years in a Swiss boarding-school, and there, among many +accomplishments, had acquired a thorough knowledge of the English +language. She had been charmed with the accounts she had read of the +work of the English ladies among the cottagers on their large estates. +She had determined to "do just so" when she was fairly settled at home. +She would now begin at once with Nono. She felt she had a kind of +charge over him. Had not her own dear mother died in Italy, where his +mother came from? That baptism, too, she could never forget! He +should not grow up like a heathen in Sweden if she could prevent it. +She would have him up at "the big house" every day for a Scripture +lesson. She wanted to paint him too; how lovely he would be in a +picture! She must have the old man with him. How charming it would be +to sketch youth and age working in the garden together! She could pay +them for their time, and they would look up to her as a kind of +guardian angel. Alma flitted along, almost as if she had wings +already, as these pleasant thoughts floated through her mind. +</P> + +<P> +The angel seemed suddenly to change to a fury as a shout arose from +behind a dark evergreen, and a nondescript-looking individual, ragged +and dirty, came out upon her, exclaiming,— +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose I must not come near your highness, looking as I do!" +</P> + +<P> +Streaked with mud on face and clothing, his feet bare, and his trousers +rolled up to his knees, her brother stood before her, his eyes gleaming +with delight in spite of her evident displeasure. +</P> + +<P> +"I've got a basket of polywogs, and some delicious bugs, and a big +caterpillar that would make your mouth water if you were addicted to +vermicelli. See here!" +</P> + +<P> +He moved as if he were about to open up his treasures for her +inspection. +</P> + +<P> +"Do keep away, Frans!" exclaimed Alma, as she drew her befrilled and +beflounced skirt about her, as if to escape dangerous contagion. +</P> + +<P> +At this moment she swept in at the gate that led to the house, and shut +it hastily behind her. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going in the back way, anyhow," said Frans, with a merry laugh. +"Your grace and my grace cannot well make our <I>entrée</I> together." +</P> + +<P> +"The most troublesome boy in the world!" said Alma to herself, and she +expressed her sincere conviction. +</P> + +<P> +At this moment Alma saw the bent form of her father riding slowly +before her. Her whole expression changed again, and she quickened her +steps into a run, and was soon at his side. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you very tired, papa, after your little ride?" she said tenderly. +</P> + +<P> +"No, darling. But how fresh and rosy you look! The air of old Sweden +suits you, I see." +</P> + +<P> +How happy the two were together! how gentle and loving were they both! +Alma really looked like the guardian angel she meant to be to Nono and +Uncle Pelle. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE BOYS. +</H3> + +<P> +When Decima had been fairly settled as the tenth little baby that had +come to the golden house, Erik, the oldest of the flock, confided to +Nono that he meant to start as soon as possible for America. Nono was +the recipient of the secrets of all the children. They always found in +the little Italian a sympathetic listener, and they could be sure of +his profound silence as to their private communications. Nono's +evident sense of the many for whom Karin was called on to care had +suggested to Erik that although it would be too great a penance for him +to be tending a baby, as Nono did, he could go out and earn his own +living; which would probably be quite as useful to the family. So to +America he had resolved to go, always understanding that he had gained +his parents' permission. That permission was not hard to win, for +Karin had friends who were emigrating, and who would take care of her +boy on the way, and were willing to promise to look after him on his +arrival in the "far West," whither they were bound. +</P> + +<P> +Erik went off cheerily, with his ticket paid to the end of his journey, +and a little box of strong clothing, his Bible, and his parents' +blessing as the capital he took to the new country. Erik had another +treasure, not outside of him, but in his inmost heart—a resolve to +lead in a foreign land just such a life as he should not be ashamed to +have his parents know about, the Word of God being his guide and +comfort. Erik was no experienced Christian, but he had started in the +right spirit. +</P> + +<P> +Erik had never been renowned for his scholarship, but rather for his +industry and skill when real practical work was in question. He wrote +at first short letters in Swedish. They soon came less and less +frequently, and finally in a kind of mixed language, a mingling of the +new and the old, a fair transcript of his present style of +conversation. These letters caused much puzzling in the golden house, +and occasionally had to be taken to the old pastor for explanation and +translation. One came at last, beginning "Dear moder and broder, +hillo!" Then followed a page in a curious lingo, wherein it was stated +that Erik now had a nice room to himself in the "place" he had +obtained. He did not say that the room was in the stable where he was +hostler, or that it was just six feet by eight when lawfully measured. +He also mentioned that he had food fit for a count; which was true in a +way, as he was daily regaled with fruit and vegetables that would have +been esteemed in Sweden luxuries sufficient for the table of any +nobleman. He dressed like a count too, he said; on which point Erik's +testimony was not to be accepted, as he had had little to do with +counts in his native land. The big boy did not mean to exaggerate. He +was simply and honestly delighted at his success in seeking his +fortune. Not that he was laying up money. Far from it. He was +sending home to "old Sweden" all he could possibly spare, and was +anxious to have Karin feel that it was a light thing for a son who was +so comfortable to be remitting a bit of money now and then to a mother +who had given him such love and care all the days of his life. Erik +did not write much about or to his father, but he thought of him all +the more, and inwardly thanked that father for his stern and steady +hand with his boys, and for teaching them not only to do honest work, +but to know what a real Christian man should be. +</P> + +<P> +Oke, the next boy, had been the bearer to the parsonage of Erik's +unreadable letters, and had there been instructed in their proper +rendering into everyday Swedish. So a kind of special acquaintance had +grown up between the slender, pale boy and the kind old pastor. +</P> + +<P> +The pastor was a bachelor, and lonely in his declining years. He had +found it pleasant to see Oke coming with an American letter in his +hand, his young face beaming with delight. The pastor had, besides, +learned to know more and more of Karin's home and the spirit that was +reigning there. Perhaps, when he saw Uncle Pelle sitting in church, +Sunday after Sunday, clean and happy among Karin's boys, he had thought +he too might have a guest-room that might receive one member from the +full golden house. So Oke came to live at the pastor's, who said he +did not see as well as he once did, and he must have a boy trained to +read aloud to him, and to write a bit, too, for him now and then. It +was stipulated that Oke's duties were not to be all of the literary +sort. The pastor was convinced that Oke had a good head for study, and +really ought to have a chance to improve himself. The boy was not, +however, to be kept constantly bending over books, but was to have as +much work in the open air as possible. The pastor himself had a weak +constitution, and had suffered all his life from delicate health, and +had found it no pleasant experience. Oke should be a robust Christian, +for a Christian he was of course to be. +</P> + +<P> +The elder boys being disposed of, the twins had come into power. The +oldest among the children had always been allowed to be a kind of +perpetual monitor for the rest, with restricted powers of discipline. +Oke's rule had been mild but firm. He had taken no notice of small +matters; but if anything really wrong had gone on, Jan was sure to hear +of it, and a thorough settlement with the offender inevitably followed. +</P> + +<P> +The twins were rather against the outside world in general, strong in +their two pair of hands, and two loud voices to shout on their side. +Nono really feared this duumvirate, for the twins had more than once +given him to understand that he would "catch it" when they got to be +the oldest at home. They had no particular offences to complain of or +anticipate on Nono's side, but they enjoyed giving out awful threats of +what they would do if ever they had the opportunity. Oke had kept them +in order without difficulty, for he had a vehement power of reproof, +when fairly roused, that could make even the twins hide their faces in +shame, as he pictured to them their unworthiness. +</P> + +<P> +Nono had gotten on very well with the "lions and the bears" of the +past, but how was he to deal with this two-headed "Philistine" under +whose dominion he had now come? He was resolved on one thing—Karin +should hear no complaints from him. She should not be worried by the +little boy she had taken in among her own to be so wonderfully happy. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A YOUNG TEACHER. +</H3> + +<P> +Nono and Uncle Pelle had been working a whole morning in the garden at +Ekero under Alma's direction. She was going to have a parterre of her +own, according to a plan she had been secretly maturing. Now it was +the time of mid-day rest, and she was prepared to give Nono his first +lesson; a kind of Sunday school on a week day she meant it to be, and +of the most approved sort. Alma had chosen for herself a rustic sofa, +with a round stone table before her, and behind her the trunk of a huge +linden, with its branches towering high over her head. Opposite her +was Nono, on a long bench, awaiting the opening of the Bible and the +big book that lay beside it. Alma, tall, and fair, and slight, looked +seriously at Nono, small, and dark, and plump, sitting expectant, with +his large eyes fixed upon her. +</P> + +<P> +Alma paused a moment, and then looked towards one of the grass plots +that made green divisions in the well-kept vegetable-garden. There sat +Uncle Pelle, his round woollen cap on his head, his red flannel sleeves +drawn down to his wrists, while his coat lay over his knees. Uncle +Pelle was very careful of his health. He did not want to be a trouble +and a burden to Karin. He held a little, thin, worn book, over which +he was intently poring. He did not look up until Alma spoke his name. +Perhaps she had thought that he might be feeling lonely there by +himself, or perhaps she fancied that she had prepared too rich a dish +of instruction for little Nono to receive alone. At least she had +sprung hastily towards the old man. "What are you reading here by +yourself, Uncle Pelle?" she said pleasantly. +</P> + +<P> +Pelle turned to the title-page, showing it to her, and then placed the +book in her hand, open to where he had been reading. Her eye fell on +the passage his long finger pointed out to her. "Use your zeal first +towards yourself, and then wisely towards your neighbour. It is no +great virtue to live in peace with the gentle and the peaceable, for +that is agreeable to every one. It is a great grace and a vigorous and +heroic virtue to live peaceably with the hard, the bad, the lawless, +and with them who set themselves in opposition to us." Alma's eyes +flashed along the lines, and her conscience pricked her with a sharp +prick. She handed the book back to old Pelle, and said quite +modestly,— +</P> + +<P> +"I was going to give Nono a little lesson there under the tree. I have +some nice Scripture pictures, too, that you would perhaps like to see." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks," said old Pelle, getting up slowly, and falteringly following +the slight figure that flitted on before him. +</P> + +<P> +Pelle took his seat beside Nono. They both clasped their hands and +closed their eyes. Alma was taken by surprise. She saw what they +expected before this "Bible lesson"—a prayer, of course! No prayer +came to her lips. "God help us all! Amen!" she said at last. "Amen!" +came solemnly from her companions. +</P> + +<P> +Alma was so disturbed by this little occurrence that her whole plan for +her lesson went out of her mind. She turned with relief towards the +great book, where her mother had placed in order photographs of some of +the most beautiful pictures illustrating the life of our Saviour that +the world can boast. Alma had meant to explain and expound, but she +continued silent. As old Pelle and Nono looked reverently on as she +turned page after page, their faces glowing with reverent interest, now +and then they exchanged meaning glances or a murmured word; which +plainly showed that they understood the incidents so beautifully given +by the great artists of the past. When they came to the Christ on the +cross, their hands clasped themselves as if involuntarily, and a great +tear found its way down Pelle's worn face. The scene was really before +him. He felt himself standing on Calvary, beside the cross of his +Master. +</P> + +<P> +There was a long pause. Then Alma turned slowly the next page. There, +a modern artist had pictured the bright angels falling adoringly back, +as the Saviour, shining in his glory, burst forth from the tomb. +</P> + +<P> +"Risen!" said Nono joyously, with the relief of childhood that the sad +part of the holy story had now been told. +</P> + +<P> +Alma passed on to the representation of the ascension. Pelle looked at +it, his eyes beaming. He raised his long finger and pointed to where a +bright cloud was for the moment half veiling the sun. "So he went, and +so he shall come again. Blessed be the name of the Lord!" burst from +the old man's lips. He was still looking towards the skies, as he +added, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" He bowed his aged head and sat +silent, with clasped hands. Nono and Alma followed his example. When +they looked up an astonished beholder had been added to the group under +the linden. +</P> + +<P> +"How are you, Uncle Pelle?" said the voice of Frans, as he took the old +man cordially by the hand. Pelle looked at him confusedly for a +moment, and then, with apparent difficulty, brought his thoughts back +to this world, and responded to the pleasant greeting. +</P> + +<P> +"Nono is to go fishing with me. I've been to the cottage, and got +permission from Mother Karin. I knew the little brownie would not stir +an inch without her leave.—So now, Nono, we are off for a good fish, +and then a good supper for you and me.—Your highness will excuse me +for interrupting your little meeting," added Frans, with mock +politeness. "I hope it has been profitable to all parties." +</P> + +<P> +Alma compelled herself to keep silence, and to respond pleasantly to +the thanks of Pelle and Nono for what they called "the nice lesson." +They neither of them understood that they had been the teachers, and +the fair, slight girl their humble and abashed pupil. +</P> + +<P> +Alma took her Bible in her hand, and went into the house to send a +servant for the great album that lay on the stone table. She sat down +in her room in a most disturbed frame of mind, ashamed of her first +effort as a teacher, and irritated that Nono should have come under the +very influence she would have most dreaded for him, even that of her +own brother. +</P> + +<P> +Then came a voice from below gently calling "Alma." The loving part of +her nature at once took the upper hand, and the fond daughter went down +to her father, ready to do anything he could ask of her for his joy or +comfort. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IN ALMA'S ROOM. +</H3> + +<P> +The day after the Bible lesson Alma threw herself heartily into her +plan for her parterre, at which Pelle and Nono were busily working. In +the midst of a large velvet patch of closely-cut grass she had a great +parallelogram marked out which was to represent the Swedish flag. The +blue ground was to be of the old Emperor William's favourite flower, +while the cross stretching from end to end was to be of yellow pansies. +The Norwegian union mark in the corner was to be outlined in poppies of +the proper colours. +</P> + +<P> +There was a slight twinkle in the old man's eyes as he watched Alma, +all enthusiasm, flitting hither and thither, and ordering and planning +like an experienced general, while it was plain to Pelle that she was +as yet but a novice in the mysteries of gardening. He did venture to +hint modestly that it was late—the middle of July—to begin such an +undertaking. Alma took no notice of his discouraging hints, but went +on expatiating as to how charming it would be to have the Swedish flag +lying there on the green grass, and how her father would enjoy it, +loving his country as he did, and being a real soldier himself. A +soldier the colonel certainly was by profession; but he had had other +enemies to meet than the foes of his native land. He had struggled +long with sorrow and ill-health, his constant portion. Exiled from +Sweden for the sake of his delicate wife, and that he himself might be +under the care of eminent physicians who understood his complicated +difficulties, he had still continued a warm Swede at heart. Now he +considered himself stronger; and did it mean life or death for him, the +north should be his home, and his children should learn to love the +land of their forefathers. His native language he had never allowed +them to lose, even when far away from the bright lakes and clustering +pines of the country so dear to him. A war against all that could +injure his fatherland the colonel had all the time been waging with his +skilful pen. By sharp newspaper articles and spirited papers in +magazines he had cast himself into whatever conflict might be going on +in Sweden, and had so had his own share of influence at home. He had +read the Stockholm journals as faithfully as if he had been living in +sight of the royal palace. +</P> + +<P> +As to her father's being charmed with her plan for her flower-bed, Alma +was confident. She would not listen to Pelle's suggestion that the +flowers would hardly blossom richly at the same time, and those blue +weeds would in the end quite overrun the garden. She had no +misgivings, but walked about with a peculiar air of determination in +her slight, very slight figure. +</P> + +<P> +Alma's whole person gave the impression of extreme fragility, sustained +by strength of will. It was the same with her delicate face, haloed +round by her sunny hair, ready to float in every breeze. The small +mouth was thin and decided, and the large, full blue eyes could be soft +or stern as the passing mood prompted. They were very gentle as she +looked at Nono when the noonday rest came, and told him he might come +into the house with her, as perhaps she could help him a little about +his writing in her own room. +</P> + +<P> +Nono would have preferred at that moment to consume the hearty lunch +Karin had provided for him, but he followed submissively. Pelle looked +after the pair as he went to his favourite seat. Somehow the decided +figure of the young girl always touched him. There was something about +her that made him uneasy for her, body and soul. +</P> + +<P> +Nono looked despairingly at his shoes, fresh from the flower-bed, as he +came to the wide doorway through which Alma had beckoned to him to +follow her. It was in vain he tried to put his feet into proper +condition by gently rubbing them on the mat that he thought fit for a +queen to step on. The colour dashed to his brown cheeks as he saw the +marks he had left on it. He could but tiptoe after Alma as she entered +the, to him, sacred precincts of the "big house" at Ekero. +</P> + +<P> +Alma felt young and guilty as she met a stout, elderly woman on the +stairs, as she went up with Nono. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the little Italian boy I saw baptized," she said apologetically. +</P> + +<P> +"I've seen many children baptized, Miss Alma, and paid respect to what +was doing, I hope, but I don't have them trudging up and down the grand +staircase—no, not even when the colonel is away in foreign parts. +Miss Alma must do as she pleases, but I'd like the colonel to know that +I see things in order as far as I can. I can't be responsible for boys +like that leaving tracks like a bear behind them." +</P> + +<P> +The comparison to the bear was not meant to be personally offensive +towards Nono, though he always felt that with Bruin he was specially +connected. He had indeed, in his caretaking, not left marks like a +human being as he had tiptoed along, leaving round traces on the +shining floor and stairs, as if a four-footed creature had passed. +</P> + +<P> +Nono was not much accustomed to harsh words, and the reproaches of the +faithful housekeeper increased his awe of the place, where he felt +himself a decided intruder, though following the young mistress at her +express command. +</P> + +<P> +Nono was even more disturbed in mind when he was seated at a beautiful +little writing-table, and requested to write on a fair sheet of paper +laid before him. The first verse of a hymn was dictated to him from +the prettiest little psalm book imaginable. His writing was really +wonderful for a boy of his age. The letters were clear and round, and +almost graceful, with here and there a little flourish of his own +invention, added in his desire to do his best. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-062"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-062.jpg" ALT=""The first verse of a hymn was dictated to him."" BORDER="2" WIDTH="326" HEIGHT="452"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 326px"> +"The first verse of a hymn was dictated to him." +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Alma was quite disappointed when she saw that there was no field here +for her instructions. She could hardly write better herself, and by no +means as legibly. She was aiming at a flowing hand, and her efforts +but showed that her character was yet too unformed to attempt such a +dashing style with the pen. +</P> + +<P> +On nearer examination, Nono's spelling was found to be most +exceptionable. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you never been taught spelling at school, Nono?" asked Alma, very +seriously. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh yes!" he answered cheerfully, and forthwith drew himself up as he +stood, and recited the rules for the various ways in which the English +sound "oh" may be represented in Swedish, giving the proper examples +under the rule. This little Nono could rattle off in grand +school-recitation style, though these etymological gymnastics never +bore on his practices as a writer. +</P> + +<P> +Of such rules Alma knew nothing. She had learned Swedish spelling on +quite another principle. For years she had copied a Swedish poem every +day for her father (whether with him or away from him), in pretty +little books, which were in due time presented to him with the +inscription at the beginning, "From his devoted daughter." +</P> + +<P> +Alma now gave Nono the "psalm book," and bade him copy the hymn +carefully. He did not dare to touch the dainty little volume, for his +hands were far from immaculate after his morning's work. He managed, +though, with his knuckles to steady it against Baxter's "Saints' Rest" +and "Thomas à Kempis," which in choice bindings found their place among +Alma's devotional books, more in memory of her mother, to whom they had +belonged, than for any special use they were to the present owner. +</P> + +<P> +Nono's copy proved fair and correct, for he had the idea that whatever +he did must be done well. He signed his name, and put the date below, +as he was requested, adding a superfluous supplementary flourish, like +an expression of rejoicing that the trial was over. +</P> + +<P> +On one side of the table was a little porcelain statuette that fixed +his attention. On an oval slab lay a fine Newfoundland dog, while a +boy, evidently just rescued from drowning, was stretched beside him, +the dank hair and clinging clothes of the child telling the story as +well as his closed eyes and limp, helpless hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Is he really drowned? is he dead?" asked Nono, forgetting all about +the spelling, as did his teacher when she heard his question. +</P> + +<P> +"That is one of my treasures, Nono," she said. "The princess gave it +to my mother. She modelled it with her own hands—the group after +which this was made, I mean. You have heard about the good princess, +Nono?" +</P> + +<P> +Nono shook his head and looked very guilty. He knew the king's name, +and believed him to be quite equal to David; but as to the queen and +all the "royal family," he was in most republican ignorance. +</P> + +<P> +Now Alma had something she liked to talk about. Perhaps she was +willing that even Nono should know that her own dear mother had been +intimately acquainted with a princess, and had loved her devotedly, and +been as warmly loved in return. Alma even condescended to tell Nono +that it was the princess who had first led her dear mother to a true +Christian life; which high origin for religious influence Alma seemed +to look upon as if it were a sort of superior aristocratic form of +vaccination. Alma went on to describe the saintly princess as she had +heard her spoken of by both her father and her mother, whose respect +and affection she had so justly won. +</P> + +<P> +How the image grew and fixed itself in Nono's mind of a real, living +princess who sold her rich jewels to build and sustain a home for the +sick poor! He heard how she, in her own illness, surrounded by every +luxury, could have no rest until she had planned a home where they too +could have comfort and tender care. The dark eyes of the listener grew +moist as he heard of the hospital the princess now had for crippled and +diseased children, where they were made happy and had real love as well +as a real home. +</P> + +<P> +Nono was a happy boy when he went out from Alma's room with a little +engraved likeness of the princess in his hand, and a glow of warm +feeling for her in his fresh young heart. For certain private reasons +of his own, she seemed very near to him, and the thought of her was +peculiarly precious. +</P> + +<P> +When old Pelle and Nono were going home that evening, he produced his +little likeness of the princess, and told Pelle all about her. +</P> + +<P> +Pelle's eyes sparkled, and he said as he rubbed his hands together, +"That princess does belong to the royal family! She is a daughter of +the great King!" +</P> + +<P> +"May I put her up in your room, Uncle Pelle?" asked Nono. "I do not +quite like to have her in the cottage, where the children can get at +her. They might not understand that this is not like any other +picture." +</P> + +<P> +"That you may," said Pelle; "and come in to see her, too, as often as +you please. A sick princess and a Christian too! She wouldn't mind +having her likeness put up in my poor place, if she is like what you +say. God bless her!" +</P> + +<P> +Nono had a way of taking what was precious to him to Pelle to keep, and +curious were the boyish treasures he had stored away in Pelle's room. +It had been a bare little home when the old man went into it, but he +had made it a cosy nest in his own fashion. Pelle had been for a time +a sailor in his youth, and had learned to make himself comfortable in +narrow quarters. A fever caught in a foreign port had laid him by, and +left sad traces behind it in his before strong body. Other and better +traces had been left in his life, even repentance for past misdoings +and resolutions for a faithful Christian course. As a gardener's +"helping hand" he had long gotten on comfortably; but illness and old +age had come upon him, and there had seemed no prospect for him but the +poorhouse, when Karin's hospitable door opened for him. +</P> + +<P> +The lawsuit was not settled, but it was well known in the neighbourhood +that Jan Persson had said Uncle Pelle should not go to the poorhouse +while he had a home. +</P> + +<P> +Pelle felt quite independent now, and he held his head straight as he +walked by Nono and talked about the good princess. Had not the young +lady at Ekero said she should need him straight on in the garden? for +she saw he knew all about flowers, and could be of real use to her. +Alma wanted to be a friend to Nono too, but she did not yet exactly see +how. There was something about the boy she did not quite understand. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +KARIN'S FÊTE. +</H3> + +<P> +Nono was in disgrace. The twins had twice brought him before Karin, +his clothes all smeared with mud, as if he had purposely made his whole +person the colour of his brown face, and had given his hands rough +gloves of a still darker hue. Of course he had at first been sternly +reprimanded, for Karin suffered no such proceedings in her neat +household. The second reproof was more severe, and accompanied by the +promise of a thorough whipping if the offence were repeated. +</P> + +<P> +The long summer evenings gave a fine play-time for the boys, and then +Nono generally amused himself out of the way of the twins, who were +very despotic in their style of government. Again they had detected +him brushing himself behind the bushes, and dolorously looking at the +obstinate stains upon his cotton clothes. With a wild hollo they +seized the culprit between them, and hurried him along towards Karin, +who was cheerily examining her flower-beds under the southern windows, +and chatting meanwhile with Jan, who sat on the doorstep. +</P> + +<P> +Karin was both grieved and angry, and unusually excited. "Nono must be +whipped, and that soundly," she said emphatically to Jan. "This is the +third time he has come to the house in that condition. I won't have +him learn to disobey me that way." +</P> + +<P> +Jan got up slowly, and took from its hiding-place inside the cottage +something that looked like a broom-brush made of young twigs. It was +the family emblem and instrument of punishment, much dreaded among the +children; and with reason, for Jan had a strong hand and a sure one. +He had been accustomed to giving his own boys a thrashing now and then, +but on Nono he had never laid hands, as Karin's gentler discipline had +usually sufficed for her foster-son. +</P> + +<P> +The tears were in the eyes of the culprit, but he stood quite still, +and was at first speechless. At last he managed to say, "Don't whip me +here, Papa Jan; take me down to the shore, please." Jan generally had +his times of punishment quite private with the boys, the grove behind +the house being the usual place of execution. He could not, however, +refuse Nono's modest request. Off to the shore they went together, the +twins meanwhile shrugging and wincing, as if they themselves were +undergoing the ordeal, while they said to each other, "He'll catch it! +It won't feel good!"—not without some satisfaction, mingled with a +sense of the seriousness of the occasion. +</P> + +<P> +Little Decima, who had been a depressed looker-on at the proceedings, +buried her head in her mother's apron and cried as if she herself were +the victim. The little boys, no longer little, were hardened to +punishment, as they were often in disgrace for their wild pranks, but +the idea of Nono's being whipped seemed to have made them uncommonly +sober. Sven went into the cottage to look among his treasures for +something with which to console Nono on his return from the shore. +Thor was walking up and down, giving defiant looks at the twins for +their want of sympathy with Nono in his humiliation. There was a +sorrowful shadow over the whole family group that evening not common at +the golden house. +</P> + +<P> +To the surprise of all parties Jan soon appeared, holding Nono by the +hand, both apparently in a most cheerful humour. There were no tears +in Nono's face, and Jan looked down at him with peculiar tenderness. +</P> + +<P> +"Nono has not meant to be a bad boy," said Jan; "and I have forgiven +him, and I think you will have to forgive him too, Karin." +</P> + +<P> +"Dear, dear Mamma Karin, indeed I did not want to be a bad boy," said +Nono. "That would be hard, after all your kindness to me. Please, +please forgive me!" Nono put his arm round Karin as he spoke. She +looked doubtfully at him, but could not refuse the lips he put up to +her to be kissed in sign of full forgiveness. +</P> + +<P> +Sven, who had found a broken horse-shoe among his treasures, was rather +disappointed that he had lost the opportunity of consoling Nono with +his friendly gift. +</P> + +<P> +Decima laid her little hand in Nono's, and was about leading him off +the scene, when she was suddenly captured by her mother and hurried +into the cottage, with the exclamation, "Here's Decima up till this +time! One never knows when to put children to bed these summer +evenings. She'll be as cross as pepper in the morning if she don't get +her sleep out!" +</P> + +<P> +It was plain that Karin was not quite satisfied with the turn the whole +affair had taken. +</P> + +<P> +"Papa is too partial to Nono! It is a shame!" murmured the twins, as +they went off in a pout. +</P> + +<P> +The morning of the second day of August was warm and bright. When +Karin awoke, Jan was already up and out of the house. The children +were dressed in their holiday clothes, by their father's permission, +they said, their faces beaming with satisfaction. Karin was hardly in +order when Jan appeared and advised her to put on a white apron, which +she wonderingly consented to do, and then Jan led her off down to the +shore. Behind them the children followed in orderly procession. Old +Pelle brought up the rear, like the shepherd with the sheep going on +before him. +</P> + +<P> +Of the why and wherefore of all this ado the children had no idea. +Nono had assured them that their father approved of the whole thing, +and the proud and yet tender way that Jan was walking with Karin showed +that the affair had his full endorsement. +</P> + +<P> +On a green bank in a little cove in the shore Karin was ceremoniously +seated, and Jan placed himself at her side. +</P> + +<P> +The children threw into her lap their bouquets, each of a hue of its +own, to lie there like a jumbled-up rainbow. With Oke's bright flowers +from the pastor's garden fell a bank-note from the absent Erik, with an +inscription pinned to it in his usual lingo: "Mamma. From her gosse +Erik." (Nono had assured Oke it was best to keep the gift till the +second of August.) A few drops fell on the note and the bright flowers +from Karin's astonished eyes; but there was a sudden sunshine of joy +and wonder as Nono proceeded to take down the evergreen branches that +were leaned against the bank opposite to her. There, a deep arch had +been scooped into the hillside. In its sweet retirement there was a +tiny house of yellow pine, perfectly modelled after the family home, +the door open, and the flower-beds in their proper place under the +windows. In front of the house was a group, which all recognized at a +glance. "Perfect! Just as if he had seen it! Think! he could make +it, when he was only <I>so long</I> at the time!" exclaimed Oke, his fingers +indicating a most diminutive baby. There was no contempt, but +unlimited admiration, in this mention of the infant Nono. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-074"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-074.jpg" ALT="The model house." BORDER="2" WIDTH="326" HEIGHT="463"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 326px"> +The model house. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +It was indeed a most successful bit of modelling. The picture that had +been so long in Nono's mind had taken form. Bear, and Italians, and +Swedes, and the very baby Francesca was raising high in the air for a +toss, were wonderfully living and full of expression. +</P> + +<P> +When the tumult of delight was subdued for a moment, Jan intimated, as +he had been requested, that Nono had something to say. +</P> + +<P> +What grandiloquence Nono had prepared never transpired. As it was, he +forgot his intended speech. His heart was in his throat; but he +managed to say that this was Katharina day in the almanac, and so Mamma +Karin's name-day, and the dear mother of them all ought, of course, to +be honoured. He had found some nice clay by the shore, which would +stay in any form he put it, and he had tried to make the group he had +thought so much about to show how thankful he was to have a place in +such a home. He had not meant to be careless, but when he got at his +work he forgot everything else, and so it had all happened. The last +time was the worst, when he had spilt the basin of water, just as he +was trying to make himself decent. Papa Jan had forgiven him, and he +hoped Mamma Karin would do so too, now she had heard all about it. He +really had not meant to be a bad boy. +</P> + +<P> +Karin caught the little Italian in her arms, while Jan looked down on +them benignantly, and the children roared an applause that came from +the depths of their hearts. They had never thought of celebrating +their mother's name-day. It had never even struck them that she had +one, as her name as they knew it was not to be found in the almanac. +As for themselves, each could remember some simple treat that had been +provided for his name-day—a row on the bay, pancakes after dinner, an +apple all round, a trip to the village, or some other favour calculated +to specially please the recipient and make all happy in the home. +</P> + +<P> +The children, all but Nono, had been sure to have their <I>fête</I>; for if +the name by which they were called in everyday life had no place in the +almanac, they had a luxury used only once a year which fixed their time +to be honoured—a second name that stood in the calendar. So Decima +had come to be a kind of D.D. in her way. She had been baptized Decima +Desideria, that she too might have a name-day and a celebration. +</P> + +<P> +Desideria was a royal name, and a kind of a queen too. Decima had been +from the very beginning the one girl among many boys, and ruling them +all with her whims and caprices. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +When Nono was going to bed that night, Karin thanked him again for the +great pleasure he had given her. +</P> + +<P> +"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." +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE LITTLE COTTAGE. +</H3> + +<P> +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 Frans cosily sitting on the doorstep +beside Jan in his working dress, and his own not more presentable for +eyes polite. Frans enjoyed society where the laws of etiquette and the +dominion of fashion were unknown. +</P> + +<P> +"You here, Frans!" exclaimed Alma, with a sudden cloud on her before +smiling face. +</P> + +<P> +"You here, Alma!" answered Frans, starting up with affected surprise, +then offering to his sister with formal courtesy the seat he had +vacated at honest Jan's side. +</P> + +<P> +Jan took himself up too—a slow process for him after a day of hard +work. Bareheaded he stepped forward to welcome the young lady, who at +once explained the object of her visit. Nono, who had seen her in the +distance, now came to meet her, and willingly led the way to the shore. +Karin, who was weeding in the vegetable-garden, did not know of the +arrival of the guest. +</P> + +<P> +Alma's delight with the group exceeded Nono's expectations. She used +words about it such as she had heard her father employ in criticising +works of art, and quite soared beyond Nono's comprehension as well as +her own. The little house, just like Karin's cottage, charmed her +completely. "Did you really make it all yourself, Nono; the house, I +mean?" she said. +</P> + +<P> +"Uncle Pelle helped me about it a little," said Nono honestly. "I am +glad you like it." +</P> + +<P> +"I like it so much that I want just such a one, to be really my own, +but very, very much smaller it should be. I should like to use it as a +money-box, a kind of savings-bank. The chimney should be open all the +way down, so that I could drop the money in. The door should be +locked, and I should have the key. I have a lock from an old work-box +that would just do. Pelle could help you to fit it in, I am sure; he +is so handy about everything. Will you do it, Nono?" +</P> + +<P> +Of course Nono gladly said he would try; and then Alma added, "But I +want to see Pelle too, and Karin, and Pelle's room, and the cottage." +</P> + +<P> +"Pelle does not often let anybody come into his room but me," said Nono +hesitatingly; "but Mamma Karin will be pleased, ever so pleased, to see +you, I am sure." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps I had better come another time," said Alma, remembering that +Frans was on the premises, and not being at all sure what he might +choose to say while she was trying to make herself agreeable at the +golden house. So Alma made her way to the gate, escorted by Nono, and +only left a message for the family, who had all assembled in the +garden, which Frans was cheerily inspecting. +</P> + +<P> +Nono began at once to plan about the savings-bank for Alma, and was +much in deep consultation with Pelle. In the course of their +conversations on the subject, Nono heard from the old man how the +golden house came to be so very different from the usual red cottages +of Sweden. He felt it was like Karin not to have told him the story. +She had served as maid in her youth to an eccentric old lady, with whom +she had lived until she was married. When her former mistress was near +her end, and was gloomily looking forward to death, some words of +simple faith and hope she had once heard from Karin came now to her +mind like a new revelation, and the glad truths took deep root in her +troubled heart. An abounding gratitude to Karin at once took +possession of the dying woman, and she added an item to her will +providing that Karin, who was struggling along with her young family +about her, should have a bit of land of her own, and a cottage built +upon it, like those the testator remembered in the part of Sweden where +she had lived in her childhood. It should all be one great room up to +the roof, but very comfortable and convenient. It must not, though, be +red like any other cottage, but yellow at first, and always yellow; for +Karin had been as good as gold to her mistress, and better. So this +was the story of "the golden house," as the Italian had named it—a +name it had borne ever since. +</P> + +<P> +Bright yellow, and complete in all its appointments, was the little +house that Nono at last took to Alma. If not gold itself, something +golden, small and round, fell into Nono's hands as Alma received it. +"Now, Nono," she said, "that is your gift from your godmother, for I am +a kind of a godmother to you. It may be the last present you will have +from me. I am going to be very saving now, and lay up all the money I +can." +</P> + +<P> +Nono felt as if common Swedish words were hardly fit to express his +thankfulness, so he astonished Alma by dropping on one knee and kissing +her hand, as he had seen "a courtier saluting a queen" in a "history +book" he studied at school. +</P> + +<P> +Old Pelle, meanwhile, was looking on with the sharp twinkle in his eye +with which he watched many of Alma's proceedings. She knew he had been +consulting-architect as to the little cottage, but she could not help +calling on him now to admire it, saying, "Is it not a beauty, and just +like Karin's home?" +</P> + +<P> +Pelle leaned on his rake as he stood, and answered, "It is like it, and +it is not like it. People's faces can look like them even when they +are dead. That is a kind of a dead house to me with the door tight +shut. That isn't the way at the cottage. The door is always open, in +a way, there. It says, 'Come in; you're welcome.' If the Master up +there," and he raised his thin finger towards the skies, "was to say to +Karin, 'Where is the guest-room?' she'd likely point to the house, all +one great room inside. She'd make a mistake, though. Her guest-room +is in <I>here</I>, where she let the Master in long ago." Pelle laid his +hand on his breast, where he supposed his honest old heart to be +beating. He may not have located it right physiologically, but +something whispered to Alma that the old man spoke the truth as he +added emphatically, "The guest-room is the heart, to my thinking; and +when the right Guest gets in there, sharing is easy, and a man or a +woman grows free and friendly like." +</P> + +<P> +Pelle began to work very diligently, raking the newly-cut grass as if +he had had his say in the matter and had no more time for talking. +</P> + +<P> +Alma went into the house with the savings-bank in her hand. A +savings-bank it proved to be as the months went on, with a very strong +draught down the little chimney. Alma had been in earnest when she had +said she meant to be economical. Her firm will was now set in that +direction. Coin after coin was dropped into the chimney, as swallow +after swallow sinks into similar quarters when a summer night comes on. +The accumulating store lay in secrecy and in stillness, save when Alma +now and then made the little house shake as if an earthquake threatened +it with destruction, while she listened delightedly to the jingling and +rattling within. She wished often that she had asked Nono to make real +windows with glass in them, through which she might have feasted on her +treasure. She did not like those little black pasteboards based with +white, and the pots of flowers painted behind them to simulate Karin's +geraniums. +</P> + +<P> +Every Saturday evening Pelle came to be paid for his labours of the +week. His gains were duly handed over to Karin, and then Pelle went to +his little room, where he walked up and down, holding his head as high +as the ceiling would permit, in the comfortable consciousness that he +had turned his back on the poorhouse, and yet was not a burden at the +cottage. +</P> + +<P> +The colonel had provided the money for Pelle from the first, and now +Alma had asked him to do the same for Nono, as she had something +particular in view for which she was saving all she could spare. The +colonel looked inquiringly, but received no answer to his questioning +glance. He was accustomed to Alma's having her plans and her whims and +fancies; and as they generally did no harm, he was not in the habit of +examining particularly into them. It would even be a pleasure to him +to pay Nono's wages personally. He liked the little brown boy who made +him think of the sunny south, and could not pass him in the garden +without giving him a pleasant word or a friendly nod. It pleased him +to think there would now be a new link between them. A silver link it +proved in a small way to Nono, who had no reason to complain of the +change. The little Italian did, however, half realize that Miss Alma +did not notice him quite in the same way as at first; but he was +thankful for the friendliness of the past, for his pleasant home, and +for steady work, and life was very bright to him now that the twins +were more his protectors than his tyrants. +</P> + +<P> +Frans was not at all pleased with the new system of economy. Alma had +always been ready to give or to lend to him from her own private purse +when he was "short of money," for the construction of his machines or +for any of his various undertakings. She had often scolded him for +being thriftless and reckless, but had been as liberal with her loans +and gifts as with her reproaches. He was fairly astonished when his +birthday came round to receive from her an old book of her own, with +the fly-leaf torn out, and an inscription written on the title-page, +"Frans. From his devoted sister." +</P> + +<P> +"Much devoted!" he said with a shrug, as he looked at his present, a +nicely-bound book, truly, and containing much good advice, but conveyed +in such long words and long sentences and such very small print that +Alma herself had never been able to read it. "What's got into you, +Alma?" he added hastily; "you seem to be drawing off from me, every +way, as fast as you can. I wonder if you will stop calling me Frans +one of these days, and pretend you are no sister of mine. You know I +don't care for this thing! I'm not much of a reader, any way, and +books are not much in my line, unless they are about travels or +machines or something that grows or crawls. You are all the sister I +have, and I wish sometimes you would find it out!" +</P> + +<P> +Frans did not wait for an answer, but ran off to thank the housekeeper +for the big cake she had made for him, and the flower-decked table on +which it had been placed. He wanted to thank his father, too, for the +neat little cupboard that had been placed in his room for his cabinet, +with lock and key, glass doors, and plenty of shelves, just as he would +have wished it. +</P> + +<P> +The colonel was not well, and had not yet appeared. Perhaps he wanted +to see his boy first, alone, on his birthday. +</P> + +<P> +Frans looked quite tender and softened when the interview was over. He +was convinced that his father, at least, did love him very dearly, in +spite of the trouble he was always giving. "Suppose—suppose," he +thought to himself—"suppose I should turn over a new leaf, and really +try to be better!" +</P> + +<P> +He passed out into the garden and chanced to look up at Alma's window. +She stood there with the yellow cottage in her hand, and was dropping +something down the chimney. "There goes my present, I daresay," he +thought, and again the bitter mood was uppermost, in spite of his +father's kind words and the charming new home for his cabinet. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE SLIDE. +</H3> + +<P> +Not the angel of death but the angel of beauty seemed to have made his +rounds in the night. Not a tree nor a shrub had been passed by. The +very dried weeds by the roadside were clothed in fairy garments. It +was as if nature had been suddenly purified, exalted, made ready for +translation. Alma looked out through her window,—not on the dark old +oaks or the bare slender birches of yesterday. In feathery whiteness +the oaks stood up before her, their hoary heads a crown of beauty, as +in a sainted old age. The graceful birches stood in "half concealing, +half revealing" pure drapery, as if shrouded in a bridal veil. +</P> + +<P> +Round Karin's home the solemn evergreens had lost their gloom, and the +white-robed branches drooped, as if to cast a double blessing on the +passer-by. +</P> + +<P> +Four noisy boys stormed out from the cottage door with a glad shout. +They saw nothing of poetry or beauty or mystery in the wonders the +hoar-frost had been working. They but remembered they were in the +midst of the Christmas holidays, and to-day they were to finish, under +the direction of Frans, the packing of the snow slope that led down to +the frozen bay. There they were all to have a splendid time coasting +on the long new sled that all had been busy in perfecting. "She," as +the boys said, was a "grand affair," a "regular buster." +</P> + +<P> +Similar thoughts had been uppermost with Nono, but they had now taken a +different form. He was still inside the cottage, coaxing Karin to let +Decima have her share in the frolic. He would hold fast to her +himself, he said, and see that she came to no harm. +</P> + +<P> +By two o'clock in the afternoon the slide was ready. Many hands had +made light work, and Frans had proved an admirable engineer. He now +took his place on the long sled as steersman and captain of the whole +affair. Decima, rolled in her mother's red shawl, was placed in the +midst of the group of merry boys, Nono's willing arms holding her as +firmly as it was possible to grasp such an uncertain kind of a bundle. +</P> + +<P> +All went on merrily. Far out on to the ice-covered bay the great sled +rushed with wonderful swiftness. Then there was the return trip +uphill, Decima riding with only Nono beside her, as her humble +servitor, to keep her steady. +</P> + +<P> +The sport went on and time flew by. Grown more and more daring, the +strong heels of the boys urged on the descending sled till it moved at +the pace of a swift locomotive. Suddenly there came a clumsy +old-fashioned sleigh along the shore road, which crossed the slide at a +right angle. Frans braked with heel and staff, and the other boys in +vain did their best to help him. The sled struck the sleigh, and was +emptied in a moment. The boys who were unencumbered fell here and +there in the soft snow or on the road. Nono held desperately fast to +his precious bundle, but could not save little Decima. While the rest +of the party were jumping up and rubbing their bruises, or declaring +they were "all right," Nono, half stunned, lay helpless with little +Decima still in his arms. She was screaming terribly, and would hardly +submit to being lifted up by the boys, even when Nono had rallied and +was giving her a helping hand. +</P> + +<P> +The accident was followed by a weary, sorrowful time at the cottage. +Decima's broken leg was set by the doctor, and she was laid on the box +couch, her usual bed, with a brick dangling from her ankle to keep the +injured limb straight while it was healing. +</P> + +<P> +If Decima had been a queen before, she now became a despot of the most +arbitrary sort. She was not patient by nature, and as to her habits of +obedience, they seemed broken as well as her leg. There was no limit +to her exactions. Her brothers she treated like worthless slaves, and +they soon learned to keep out of her reach, and when possible out of +the cottage. Nono spent his spare time faithfully beside her, +contriving all sorts of devices for her amusement. Frans looked in +often to see how she was getting on, and never came empty-handed. +There was always some special sweet bit to please her, or a "picture +book," or an apple, or a dainty plate of food begged from the +housekeeper. +</P> + +<P> +Once, when Frans was going to the village, Alma had thought of +commissioning him to buy a doll, a prettily-dressed doll, for Decima; +but she checked herself, almost as if the idea had been sinful, and +that day a special contribution found its way down the chimney of her +treasure-house. Notwithstanding the kindness of Frans to the little +patient, he did not find her an angelic sufferer, even as far as he was +concerned. She became more and more fastidious as to his presents, +always expecting some gift more novel and beautiful than the last. +Frans made all kinds of jokes about her "decimal fractiousness," which +were noisily appreciated by the young arithmeticians at the cottage. +Nono alone could not laugh at anything which concerned Decima's +misfortune, for which he considered himself in a manner accountable. +</P> + +<P> +The great undivided room of the interior of the cottage was now a sore +trial for Karin. The door seemed to be always ajar, Decima declaring +she felt a draught wherever she was placed. At last the boys went out +one day and left the door wide open, with poor little Decima alone in +the room, with a rush of keen air blowing upon her. Of course she took +cold, and Karin was quite in despair. The child began to complain that +the boys always were making a noise, and the dishes rattled so they +hurt her. It was in vain that Karin tripped about with the utmost +care; her lightest steps, Decima said, shook the whole floor. As for +Jan and the boys, they were for ever doing something that made the +little patient's head ache or that put her in a bad humour. The doctor +finally said he did not see how Decima was to get well in that room, +with that noisy family about her. It might do for well folks to live +so packed together, but to be sick in such a place was another question. +</P> + +<P> +Karin, with her usually cheerful face all clouded, went one day to old +Pelle's room for comfort, as she had often done before. He did not +say, though he thought it, that his own little den was none of the +warmest, or he would take Decima there. He was thankful for the +shelter, such as it was. He proposed nothing for the child's comfort, +but reminded Karin that little Decima 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. +</P> + +<P> +"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!" +</P> + +<P> +"You go up to Stockholm! you ask the princess!" exclaimed Karin, +astonished at the magnitude and almost presumption of the proposal. +</P> + +<P> +"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." +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +"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!" +</P> + +<P> +There was something moist in Jan's eyes, but he brushed it away with +the back of his hand. +</P> + +<P> +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 +quizzical shrugs and wry faces and many misgivings. +</P> + +<P> +It had struck Jan at once that one of the older boys would have been +much better fitted for such a trip than little Nono; but what would +they dare to say to a princess? They would perhaps never be allowed to +get into the palace at all. Nono, with his pretty ways and bright +black eyes, would be sure to get in anywhere. Karin had made him neat +enough to come into anybody's house. And as to his telling his story, +he could talk like a book when he got started, and make his hands talk +too, if he chose. +</P> + +<P> +Old Pelle's eyes had glistened when he heard of the plan. When he bade +Nono good-bye, he had begun the boy's favourite text, "He who delivered +me from the lion and the bear—" He stopped, and then added, "The +princess is no Philistine, but one of the Lord's anointed, I am sure. +She is the great King's daughter! You know what I mean, Nono." +</P> + +<P> +Nono did understand, and went out strengthened. He knew he had Uncle +Pelle's approval and his blessing on his errand. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A PEDESTRIAN TRIP. +</H3> + +<P> +Nono had not started alone on his trip to Stockholm. He had with him a +companion as lively as himself. A black companion it was, and with a +voice that could vary from the deepest bass to the highest treble, not +only at will, but at the word of command. Alas! this companion had a +ring in his nose like a heathen islander, though he had been born in a +Christian country, and had enjoyed unusual advantages for education. +He was accustomed to be washed, and to be dressed on occasion, and he +took his food most respectably considering his ancestry. If he were +not "learned," as some of his race had been, he was at least a most +accomplished and amusing companion. Nono had tried hard to make his +pet a biped; but the creature was not ambitious of being promoted to +walking upright like man, though he could stand on two legs as stiffly +as any statue, at least for a few moments. He knew he was after all +but a little black pig, with a ring in his nose (as a punishment for +rooting), and submitted humbly to being led, and tried to obey his +master's least command as far as his intelligence permitted. +</P> + +<P> +When the little black pig had made his appearance at the colonel's, in +the midst of six rose-coloured brothers, everybody had been reminded of +Nono among the fair-haired children at the golden house. Frans at once +declared that the eccentric pig ought to belong to the little Italian, +and the present had been finally made, with all due ceremonies, and an +appropriate speech from Frans, which won great applause from the +auditors. Blackie then and there received his name, which he had ever +since retained, and to which he seemed willing to bring honour. +</P> + +<P> +Nono had made his pet a rustic home of his own, and had resolved from +the first that Blackie should be something remarkable. Oke had +described to the boy the learned pigs about which he had read, and Nono +betook himself in earnest to the education of Blackie, and found his +efforts crowned with amazing success. +</P> + +<P> +Karin had looked rather gloomy at first about piggie's being destined +to an exceptional career, but she relented when she saw what innocent +merriment he had introduced into the family. Jan was never too tired +to laugh as heartily as the boys to see Blackie giving his hard paw to +be shaken, or singing or scolding according to the words of command. +If the order were "Scold, Blackie!" he scolded to perfection in his +grunting way. If it were "Sing, Blackie!" he laid his head +sentimentally on one side, and gave a succession of shrill squeals that +brought forth from the listeners a glad round of applause. Blackie's +everyday dress was provided by nature, and was dusky of course, but +scrupulously brushed—a process which he evidently considered an +agreeable luxury. +</P> + +<P> +Blackie had been taken to the yearly fair in a red flannel blanket +pointed at the edges, that an elephant might have been proud to wear if +it had suited his proportions. Nono had exhibited his pet thus +attired, and his accomplishments were so well rewarded that Karin +received in advance full pay for Blackie's winter accommodation, to +Nono's infinite satisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +Nono had not thought of taking Blackie as a companion in his pedestrian +trip until he was passing the home of his pet, after bidding good-bye +to the elders of the family. The traveller had been suddenly struck +with the thought that Blackie might chance to serve instead of a long +purse for the exigencies of the journey, and it would be best to take +him, as private property, to supply the possible needs of the uncertain +future. +</P> + +<P> +It may be that it had unconsciously seemed dreary to the little Italian +to start out into the great world alone, and that a four-footed friend +would be better than none. The plan promised to prove a good one; for +Blackie was a companion who, though he said little, required too much +attention for his master to have many anxious thoughts. Accomplished +as piggie certainly was, he was evidently puzzled as to Nono's +intentions, and constantly suggested in his own way that the walk had +been long enough, and it was time to turn back to the golden house. +After a sharp contention on this subject, the travellers came in sight +of a house which Nono fancied would suit his purpose, for he rightly +guessed that Blackie's appetite had been sharpened by the long walk in +the fresh air. Most abundant refreshments for boy and beast were given +on the one side, and on the other a whole family had a hearty laugh to +promote their own digestion. Blackie could not have done better if he +had fully realized the importance of the occasion. +</P> + +<P> +Towards twilight the glad jingling of bells rang out on the air—a +perfect concert of its kind. A train of sleighs drawn by prancing +horses came dashing down a long hill that Nono could see in the +distance, as he trudged over a level stretch below. Nono stepped out +into the soft snow as the first sleigh was almost upon him, the pace of +the horses being prudently slackened at the sight of the uncommon +impediment in the road. Nono took off his hat and bowed, while his +face gleamed with delight at the pretty display—the festal white nets +of the horses, and the fur-covered sleighs where the merry party were +so comfortably stowed. +</P> + +<P> +When Nono bowed, at a motion from him the pig did the same, standing in +his very best way, if not in most graceful court fashion. The little +dark figures on the background of snow brought forth a cheery peal of +laughter, as sleigh after sleigh passed by with nods and shouts of +approval. Some self-sacrificing lover of children first managed to get +his hand into his pocket under the wraps; so came, by example, from one +and another a small rain of copper, with now and then a silver bit for +company. Nono and Blackie plunging round in the snow to pick up the +treasures (Blackie hoping for a dainty morsel, and Nono eager that +nothing should be lost) made a funny little roadside scene that sent +the gay party on their way even more merry than before. +</P> + +<P> +Nono was not sure that he had gathered up all the results of this +unexpected exhibition, but he soon felt obliged to resume his march, as +the night was coming on rapidly. Blackie introduced him pleasantly to +a little shoemaker, who came up from behind and joined the two +pedestrians. Of course he asked Nono all manner of questions, and got +true replies, as to where he was going and why. The hardy shoemaker +had a leather apron over his heart, but the heart in his broad breast +was honest and kind. Nono and Blackie were taken into his poor +cottage, and were free to sleep in its one room, where he and his wife +and two children, and the leather and the shoes to be mended, and much +more of a nondescript nature, were huddled together. +</P> + +<P> +In the morning Nono was assured that one day's more walk would bring +him near to Stockholm. That was a trifle, the shoemaker said. He had +walked as far as that to church every Sunday, when he was young, and +lived up in the north, where the snow was not to be sneezed at, and the +night lasted almost all day, as he inconsistently expressed it. +</P> + +<P> +As to visiting the princess, the shoemaker assured Nono that was sheer +madness. A boy like him would hardly dare to look any of the royal +family in the face, he was certain. He had never heard anything +particular about the princess, to be sure, but high folks didn't like +to be bothered. He advised Nono to show Blackie in the streets. That +might bring him a bit of money; and if worst came to worst there was +begging, not a bad business in Stockholm he had heard. Money was to be +made that way, no doubt, by such a chap as Nono, who had such a pretty +story to tell. +</P> + +<P> +The shoemaker meant no harm, after his way of looking at life; but Nono +drew himself up straight, and said he believed he should see the +princess, he knew about her, and she was almost an angel. He might +have added, if he had spoken his thoughts, that he felt acquainted with +her after a fashion, and that, further, he hoped he should never come +to begging while he was able and willing to work. Nono could pay for +food and lodging for himself and Blackie without drawing on Jan's +coppers, and he set off full of courage. The shoemaker and his wife +had been kind, and he thanked them in his heart, as he had with his +lips, at parting, but he felt more and more grateful for his home in +the golden house. Nobody ever swore there, or tipped up a black bottle +with something strong in it. And how clean it was always, and how cosy! +</P> + +<P> +The shoemaker's discouraging words had, however, been for Nono much +like the chilling mist that surrounded him when he started on his +second day's journey. He suddenly thought of "the lion and the bear" +and "this Philistine," and he was again convinced that there would be a +blessing on his undertaking, and the dear princess would prove to be no +Philistine, but just what he had fancied her. +</P> + +<P> +As Nono drew nearer to Stockholm the cottagers seemed to be of a +rougher sort; and it was well that he had money to buy what he needed, +for nobody seemed to care to look at him or his piggie. When he tried +to tell his story about Karin and little Decima, and that he was going +to see the princess, he heard only rude shouts of derision or hard +words in reply. He got, however, leave to pass the night in a stable, +with Blackie beside him, with the parting good-night warning not to +steal off with the lent blanket in the morning. It would not have been +easy to slip off unobserved, for the stable was locked and barred, and +Nono was as safely imprisoned as if he had been in the common jail. +The friendly old cart-horse taught him no harm, and mumbled with +contentment as it cheerfully ate its humble fare, peering now and then +towards the dark corner where Blackie sang and scolded, as if for the +special entertainment of the host in the stable. +</P> + +<P> +By making payment in advance in the morning Nono got a glass of milk to +take with his hard bread, and Blackie had the same fare, which put him +in a good humour for the day. +</P> + +<P> +Nono was surprised to find that he felt a little shy about entering the +city, when he saw the spires shining in the morning sun and the houses +rising in close lines about them. The mist had fairly rolled away. +All nature was bright, but Nono had too solemn a sense of the greatness +and the extraordinary nature of his undertaking to be in anything but a +serious mood. +</P> + +<P> +He was in the outskirts of Stockholm, when some big apprentice boys who +were on their way to their work hailed him as he was in the midst of a +contention with Blackie, who seemed convinced that, with all his +accomplishments, he was not fit for city life, and it was best for him +to stay in the rural districts. The apprentices offered to help Nono, +which they did substantially, if subduing Blackie were the matter in +question. Two of them took him in their arms and held him firmly, +while Nono was ordered to tell honestly how that stylish little pig +came into his possession. Nono said simply that it was given to him, +and then hurried to tell the story of his errand. He was afraid of the +rough, dirty fellows, who had a wild, reckless look about them; and +they so interrupted him by loud laughs unpleasant to hear, that Nono +got confused, and really gave no very clear account of himself. +</P> + +<P> +The apprentices, putting on an air of mock respect, declared it was +quite impossible to go to see the princess with that little pig as a +companion, genteel a pig as he seemed to be. They could take care of +him, and Nono could call for him on the way home. They lived, they +said, in a house at which they pointed in the distant fields. Then +they started off in that direction as fast as their feet could carry +them, with Blackie held fast in the strong arms of the tallest of the +party. +</P> + +<P> +It was in vain that Nono called upon the retiring enemy. They shook +their fists at him and laughed mockingly, and called out that they +would "give it to him" if he undertook to follow them now. He could +call for piggie when he had seen the princess; and again they pointed +out the house towards which they seemed to be hastening. +</P> + +<P> +Nono felt inclined to sit down and cry by the roadside. It suddenly +struck him that these were Philistines, quite of the scoffing, Goliath +sort; but he was not to be discouraged by them, not he! It would have +been rather awkward to appear before the princess, in her beautiful +home, with Blackie beside him. There was truth in that at least. +Perhaps those wild fellows meant well after all. They might have been +just teasing him, as "the little boys" teased Decima sometimes, though +they really loved her at the bottom. Yes, Decima! he must not forget +that it was for her he had undertaken it all. In such a good cause no +"Philistines" should make him afraid. He was so far safely on his way. +He must thank God and take courage. And he did. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE PRINCESS. +</H3> + +<P> +Jan had given Nono the strictest injunctions to ask questions only of +policemen when he had once entered the great city. Of course Nono +implicitly obeyed, and so was soon able to find the palace. What a +grand building he thought it, and how beautiful the bright water about +it! He was sure the world could show nothing more charming than the +home of the Swedish king. +</P> + +<P> +Nono would have trembled at the idea of entering the royal palace if he +had not remembered that the good princess, his princess, was there. He +had a friend within the castle. Not that the palace looked at all like +a fortified castle. Its plain, square sides were pierced by long rows +of rectangular windows, while on the water-front two long white wings +shut in a quiet garden. In one of these wings, he had been told, the +princess had her home. A sentinel was at the entrance of the vast +courtyard through which he had learned he must pass. The guard looked +so imposing that Nono almost trembled as he took off his felt hat and +asked the way to the part of the palace where the princess lived. The +sentinel condescended to point his finger towards the colonnade under +which the desired door was to be found. +</P> + +<P> +A lady was just ringing the bell. Nono watched her, and then closely +imitated her movements. The door flew open for him, too, as it had +done for her. A dignified, gray-haired man, in a livery Nono +considered quite royal apparel, looked inquiringly at the little +visitor. Nono asked simply to see the princess about a matter of +importance. He was shown into a room, where a fair-haired lady gave +him a kindly reception, and told him her royal highness would see him +in a few moments. +</P> + +<P> +What rich moments of waiting those were for little Nono! He stood as +if on enchanted ground. From the wall looked out faces of gentlemen +and ladies in gorgeous array. Real people they seemed to be, though +silent and quiet, as, encircled by bright frames, they condescended to +be looked at by the wondering, admiring black eyes that were fixed upon +them. There, too, were bits of nature brought into that rich +room—flashing waterfalls, and quiet pastures, and golden skies through +which Nono almost fancied he could see the heaven beyond. +</P> + +<P> +Nono stepped on the soft carpet without a thought of its strangeness to +his rustic feet. A vision of beauty had been vouchsafed to him, and +his eyes glanced from picture to picture, now glistening with delight +and now lost in rapt admiration. +</P> + +<P> +The fair lady, who had been watching him with amusement, soon told him +that he might now go in to her royal highness, but only for a few +moments, as this was her morning for receiving the poor, and as she had +many to talk with her she was very tired. +</P> + +<P> +Nono saw nothing of the room into which he was now admitted, nothing +but the tall, slender, stooping figure that came forward to meet him. +The painters have liked to give the angels golden hair, but this was to +Nono a black-haired angel. Smooth, dark, glossy bands framed in the +high, full forehead, while the delicate chin made a corresponding point +below. The large brown eyes were full of loving light, and the thin +mouth smiled a welcome before the lips had spoken it. +</P> + +<P> +"What have you to say to me, my boy?" said the princess. A weary look +quickly clouded her face, and she sank suddenly into an easy-chair, +saying, "I have had many visitors to-day, so you must say quickly and +plainly what you have to tell me." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps I had better come another day," said Nono. It grieved him to +see his princess look so weak and worn. Recollecting himself, he +added, "But I don't see how I could, for I have come just for this a +long way—from near Aneholm Church." +</P> + +<P> +"Aneholm Church!" exclaimed the princess, brightening. "I once had a +dear friend who lived in that neighbourhood. What do you want to tell +me?" +</P> + +<P> +It was hard for Nono to make his story short. He must go back to the +bear, and how he came to the cottage, or the princess would not +understand why he loved Karin and little Decima so, and why he felt he +must help them. The princess must hear, too, about the accident, and +how it was almost his fault, because he had insisted on having Decima +out with the boys. +</P> + +<P> +The princess soon forgot her weariness. This was no common beggar, +with sycophant whine and forced civility. Nono spoke freely, frankly, +and trustfully. She was some one good and powerful, who, he was sure, +would gladly help him. His dark eyes looked into hers as he stood +before her, while his words sprang from his heart, and his hands and +his whole figure helped to illustrate his story. When he came to +little Decima, the sister whom the brothers loved and took care of, who +played with the boys, and was the pet and darling of all, the whole +face of the listener was aglow. +</P> + +<P> +"I was just such a little sister!" exclaimed the princess. "I never +played with a doll in my life. I was the special pet with one of my +brothers, who loved me very dearly. We romped and we painted, and we +made clay figures together. I know what a brother can be!" and the +tears for a moment filled her eyes. She dashed them away, and told +Nono to go on with his story. +</P> + +<P> +Nono wanted to say that he had seen a beautiful thing the princess had +made, and that was one reason why he felt so acquainted with her, but +he wisely kept to Decima and what he wanted for her. +</P> + +<P> +When the princess heard of Decima's misfortune, and of the big room +where all the family lived, the boys always leaving the door open to +blow on the little patient, her heart was quite melted, as it had been +many times before, as she compared her own comfort with the +surroundings of the sick poor. She herself had been long an invalid, +and often for months a prisoner in her beautiful rooms. She put out +her arm towards Nono, who had drawn near to her in his eagerness, and +was now close at her side. Affectionately her white slender hand was +laid on the boy's, as she said,— +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Nono, your little Decima shall have a place in my home for sick +children. I will have the permit made out at once, and she can come as +soon as 'Mother Karin' can send her." +</P> + +<P> +The princess spoke aside to the fair lady, who began to write the few +words that were necessary, but stopped to ask Nono the full name of the +patient. +</P> + +<P> +"Decima Desideria Persson," was the prompt reply. +</P> + +<P> +"Desideria!" said the princess, with a pleasant smile. "That was my +grandmother's name, so the little girl half belongs to me to take care +of." +</P> + +<P> +"We don't call her Desideria," said Nono truthfully. "She had that +name because it stands in the almanac, and seemed to sound well with +Decima, Mother Karin thought; and besides, she wanted the only little +girl to have a name-day to keep as well as the boys.". +</P> + +<P> +Again the pleasant smile came into the face of the princess. She wrote +in a free and flowing hand her signature to the permit, which was duly +placed in an envelope and given to Nono. +</P> + +<P> +"Since Decima Desideria is to be my guest, I must pay for her journey," +said the princess. +</P> + +<P> +Nono received the generous gift, and dared to kiss the hand that gave +it. He was too full of joy and gratitude to express himself fully by +his murmured thanks. +</P> + +<P> +"I understand you, Nono," said the princess. "You can go now. Perhaps +we shall meet again, some day; perhaps up there, if we both love the +dear Lord and try to be his true children." The thin hand made a sweep +upwards towards heaven, whither Nono, child as he was, felt that his +princess was going, all too soon for the mourning hearts she would +leave behind her. +</P> + +<P> +So ended Nono's visit to the royal palace. The princess sank wearily +back in her chair when the fair lady had gone out with Nono. On her +mild face there was a shadow that betokened something more than +weariness. That little boy she had trusted so implicitly while she +looked into his clear eyes, what if he should prove an impostor? She +had had her own bitter experience from the falsehoods of the apparently +needy. "No! Nono is not an impostor, I am sure," she said to herself. +"Little Decima, no doubt, ought to be taken care of immediately." A +slight smile came over her thoughtful face as she recalled the unusual +name. +</P> + +<P> +The dignified old servant now brought in the letters from the morning +mails. The first that the princess opened was in an unfamiliar hand. +A cloud of sadness came over her, as a friend long in heaven was +recalled to her mind. The colonel had written, not to renew the sorrow +of the princess by reminding her of his lovely wife, but to say that he +had accidentally heard of Nono's departure, without credentials or +recommendations of any kind to insure her confidence. The letter +guaranteed the truthfulness and honesty of the boy, and contained warm +words in favour of the family at the golden house. +</P> + +<P> +The good princess was glad to be acquitted of rashness in her promise, +and was once more encouraged to love and to trust, and to give freely +out of her abundance. +</P> + +<P> +Little Nono had started cheerily on his homeward journey, grateful at +heart. He was hopeful as to finding Blackie at the house where he had +been assured his pet would be awaiting his return from the palace. +Nono was met there by rude answers to his eager inquiries, and was told +that no one had seen anything of a little black pig, nor did any one on +those premises wish to see anything more of a little dark boy full of +impudent questions. There was a sweep of meadows about the house, and +no other dwelling was near the spot. +</P> + +<P> +Nono could but disconsolately begin again his homeward walk, and try to +forget his pet in the thought of the future opening before little +Decima. He betook himself to the highroad, and trudged along as +cheerily as he could. Drops of blood on the snow suddenly arrested his +attention. They formed a regular line leading into the far distance, +where a familiar black object was getting over the ground at a +marvellous rate. It must be Blackie! Nono gave a long whistle by +which he was accustomed to call his four-footed friend. The black +object stopped. The whistle was repeated, and in a few moments the +little pig was awkwardly capering about his master, almost tying his +tail into knots, as it was twisted round and round as an expression of +delight. +</P> + +<P> +Blackie had evidently escaped from confinement and uncongenial society. +Where he had been, of course he could not tell. His poor nose was +sadly torn where the ring had been wrenched away as he broke loose from +his imprisonment. Nono was glad that Blackie had lost his badge of +servitude; and as to needing a rope to be led by, the poor creature was +willing enough to follow Nono wherever he might choose to lead him. A +kind countryman returning from the city with an empty waggon gave the +odd pair a good lift, and took them along so rapidly that towards +evening they reached the shoemaker's cottage. Nono thought best to be +set down there, and he was hardly on the ground with Blackie beside him +when there was an impromptu concert of singing and scolding that +brought the inmates of the house at once to the door. +</P> + +<P> +Of course the travellers were warmly welcomed. There was great +eagerness to hear Nono's adventures, and he was at once besieged with +all sorts of questions. When he had told his story, the shoemaker got +up and bowed respectfully to the absent princess, whom Nono had so +vividly described that she seemed actually standing there in the +cottage. "There be some good people left in high places!" exclaimed +honest Crispin. "It's of no use talking against the royal family while +such a princess is above ground." So some dim socialistic ideas that +had been troubling the mind of the poor shoemaker died a violent death, +and the warm loyalty of his youth took the upper hand. +</P> + +<P> +Nono and Blackie were hospitably housed for the night, and treated +almost as if they were ambassadors from court, with a flavour of +royalty about them. +</P> + +<P> +It is needless to tell with what joy the travellers were received the +next day at the golden house, or what rapid preparations were made for +Decima's departure. The princess should see that Jan and Karin were +prompt to avail themselves of her kindness. +</P> + +<P> +Jan took an unusual holiday, and actually was for the first time in a +railroad car, with Decima cuddled close at his side. +</P> + +<P> +Decima Desideria, who had a keen sense of her own fitness to come to +honour, really seemed to think the children's hospital had been +established for her special benefit, and that her presence there, and +the ado that had been made about her, were quite natural matters, with +which gratitude had very little connection. Once made mistress of one +of the little white beds, and surrounded by every comfort, her +arrogance and her exactions would probably have known no bounds, if she +had not wonderingly seen about her from day to day deformed children, +suffering children, and almost idiots, as tenderly cared for as +herself. It somehow came into her head to be thankful that she at +least had but to lie in her bed, without great pain, that she could +understand all that was said to her, and could even be learning to knit +and crochet, which she was doing with extreme satisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +How Decima longed to see the good princess! When at last that +much-talked-of princess came and stood by her bed, and beamed down love +and tenderness, the little invalid was softened into real gratitude, +which she managed brokenly to express, with tears in her eyes. Then +the kind princess talked to her cheerfully and naturally of the great +Shepherd of the lambs, as of some one whom she knew and who was really +dear to her. +</P> + +<P> +At the golden house religion had been lived and inculcated; at the +hospital it seemed the felt, ever-pervading atmosphere. Heavenly +comfort was sung in the sweet hymns, breathed in the trustful prayers, +spoken of as something always in mind, and acted out in the sweet +offices of love towards the unfortunate. Such surroundings were +life-giving to the poor little invalid. Her fretfulness gave way, and +a sweet quietness succeeded her nervous irritation. After the weary +turmoil of the past in the noisy, crowded home, there was now a serene +peace for her, as if the angels had taken her under their sheltering +wings. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WHERE? +</H3> + +<P> +Alma was sitting in her own room, with her treasure-house before her. +Its door was still fast locked, as was her purse for all applications +for pecuniary help. Closed, too, seemed the door of her heart to the +great Friend who still lovingly knocked without. His question, "Where +is the guest-room?" had been met by a long, unbroken silence. +</P> + +<P> +Now Alma's mind was on her future plans. She had shaken the little +cottage, and had been quite dissatisfied with the result. She rose +hastily. A drawer in her writing-desk was impulsively unlocked. She +took out a jewel-case where a diamond ring, and a brooch set with the +same precious stones, and a watch with a monogram in pearls, were lying +side by side. She looked admiringly at them, and carefully examined +them all. The ring, the brooch, and the little watch were then +deliberately let down the chimney of the golden house, as if they had +been black sweeps on a lawful errand. They were given, "offered," she +felt, and her design was now far on its way to its accomplishment. +There could be no more earthquake-like shakings of that cottage. That +amusement must be abandoned. +</P> + +<P> +There was a sharp prick from Alma's conscience in the midst of her +evident satisfaction. Her father had said this jewellery would some +day belong to her, and had even, at her special request, allowed her to +have the now sacrificed treasures in her own keeping. "They were to be +mine. They <I>are</I> mine," she said to herself. "I have offered them. I +shall never wear them now. My mother in heaven would approve of what I +have done." Here her conscience gave her a cruel pang. She was +inclined to open again the velvet-lined box, and lay the jewellery +where it had so long rested, but that was impossible without opening +the little locked door of the treasure-house. That she had vowed to +herself she would not do before the time appointed—a time she was now +most anxious should soon arrive. +</P> + +<P> +At this moment Alma heard the sound of footsteps. She thrust the case +into its drawer, locked it and dropped the key into her pocket like one +disturbed in a dishonest act rather than in a noble deed. There was a +loud knock at the door. Alma opened it, and Frans stood before her. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you want here?" she said impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't find papa," said Frans. "I wanted to tell him that it went +'bully' for me at the examination this morning. I thought perhaps your +highness might like to know it too. The teachers seem to think I shall +stand 'tip-top' in my report." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe you will deserve it," said Alma sharply. "I never see +you studying." +</P> + +<P> +"But I have studied lately, more than I ever studied in my life. I +didn't go to bed a single night last week before one o'clock." +</P> + +<P> +"You ought to be ashamed to tell it!" said Alma reprovingly. "You know +papa don't allow you to sit up late." +</P> + +<P> +"I shall tell him about it myself, and I know papa will excuse me," +said Frans, in high spirits. +</P> + +<P> +The colonel did excuse Frans, and was delighted to hear of his success, +though he did not fail to say it was hard to make up by such forced +studying for neglect during the term, and a thing that he hoped would +never be needed again. +</P> + +<P> +Frans was in a glorious good-humour during the short time he allowed +himself for lunch, and made his pony fly as he hurried back to school +immediately afterwards. +</P> + +<P> +The school was in a village about twenty minutes' ride from the +colonel's home. The afternoon session was over, and yet Frans did not +return. The colonel was very anxious about his son. He feared that he +had been induced to celebrate his success in some wild frolic, and sent +in a messenger to search after him. +</P> + +<P> +The report came back that Frans had done very badly at school during +the latter part of the day, and had ridden off at full speed, evidently +in a very bad humour at his failure. +</P> + +<P> +Later in the evening the pony came home, riderless, and sorrow settled +on the household at Ekero. +</P> + +<P> +"It is only some foolish trick that Frans is playing upon us!" Alma had +said at first, but as the hours wore away she too had become really +anxious. +</P> + +<P> +The colonel, who went himself at once to the village, came home late, +discouraged and distressed. Telegraphing and sending off messengers in +every direction had been in vain. The morning brought terrible news. +A theft had been committed in a shop near the schoolhouse the evening +before, and an older pupil of bad repute had disappeared. It was +generally whispered that he and Frans had gone off together. +</P> + +<P> +Alma's feelings can easily be imagined. Shame, anger, righteous +indignation, and real distress were strangely mingled together. Her +father left home as soon as these horrible rumours were told him. Alma +was alone all day, save when she was called on to hear the moans of the +housekeeper over her "dear boy who had gone wrong; such a sweet boy as +he had always been towards her." +</P> + +<P> +At such a mention of himself Frans would have been much astonished, as +this faithful friend of the family had not failed to set his +shortcomings fully before him. She now reproached Alma for not making +home more pleasant for her brother, for "worrying and worrying at him +until he had no peace of his life. Such a knowing boy as he was, too, +with the ways and doings of beasts and birds at his tongue's end. As +for the Swedish kings, he could tell stories about them all a long +midsummer day, if a body had patience to listen. And <I>he</I> not do well +at an examination!" and the housekeeper snapped her fingers in contempt +of the whole pedagogical corps. +</P> + +<P> +To these various forms of lamenting Alma listened in convicted silence. +She was glad of any company in the dismal loneliness of the house, and +felt she deserved much blame, if not all the burden of responsibility +that was cast upon her, for Frans's misdoings. +</P> + +<P> +The colonel had been unwearied in his efforts to find his son; but when +he was at last convinced that he had gone off in company with a boy +suspected of actual theft, he would not seek for his son to be brought +home to public trial and possible conviction. The authorities might +find the boys if they could, he would take no further steps in the +matter. +</P> + +<P> +The colonel locked himself into his room, and not even Alma's gentle +knock was answered. Like the housekeeper, he had a deep sense of +Alma's coldness and bitterness towards her brother, and he understood +how Frans must have dreaded to meet her after his disgrace at the +examination. He understood, too, how much Frans must have feared his +displeasure; but that such a mother's son should be so degraded as to +consort with a thief and possibly share his guilt! The thought was +madness. He pictured the desperate boy, flying perhaps to a far +country, to suffer, and sin and go down to the lowest depths of +degradation. The prayer burst forth from the depths of the colonel's +heart, "God have mercy on my son! God have mercy on me, a sinner!" +There was a thoroughgoing penitence in that closed room. The colonel's +whole life stood before him, with all its shortcomings and its sins. +To the world it had been an outwardly blameless life, but within there +had been an uncertain faith, a half-heartedness, an indecision in his +inner life, that ill befitted one who so well knew the love and purity +of his heavenly Father. He cast himself upon his knees, to rise +forgiven, and strengthened to lead a decided, devoted Christian life. +With his own humiliation came back his tenderness towards his absent, +erring boy. +</P> + +<P> +When the door was opened at last to Alma, she saw the traces of sorrow +and deep emotion on her father's face. She threw herself into his +arms, exclaiming, "Dear, dear papa!" She could say no more. He gently +closed the door by which she had entered. No human being ever knew the +words that then passed between them, but they were henceforward to be +bound together by a new and a holier tie than ever before. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE BIRTHDAY GIFT. +</H3> + +<P> +In the midst of the shadow over the household at Ekero, Alma's birthday +had come. No festivities could be thought of. No birthday table was +decked for her with flowers and gifts. Her father had not even +remembered the fact that she was now eighteen years old until the +evening came on. The housekeeper, a thorough Swede in all things, +could not forget such an anniversary; but she was in no mood towards +Alma to prompt to any particular kindness in that direction, or any +festal preparations. +</P> + +<P> +The father and daughter were sitting quietly together in the study in +the evening. "Alma," he began, "I have just remembered that it must be +your birthday. It has been a sad, neglected birthday for you, my +child; but it shall not pass altogether without notice. Give me the +jewel-case that has been in your charge, and the key too, dear. I +have, of course, meant that you should have these things that were so +peculiarly associated with your dear mother's younger days. The watch +you can wear at once, as your own does not seem to keep good time. +Hers was an excellent time-keeper, and it will remind you to be exact +and true, and gentle and holy, like your dear mother. I shall take +real pleasure in seeing you wear it. Go, daughter, at once! I am glad +I thought of something that will please you on your birthday." +</P> + +<P> +Alma obeyed mechanically, and returned quickly with the empty case in +her hand, hoping that when the critical moment came she should be able +to explain herself satisfactorily. She gave the casket into her +father's hands, and waited in a silence so natural under the +circumstances that he did not notice it. +</P> + +<P> +There was no sparkle from the dark cushions, but a sudden, astonished +sparkle in the colonel's eyes. "Empty, Alma! What does this mean?" he +exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"I have given them away," she said, blushing very deeply. +</P> + +<P> +"Given them away!" repeated the colonel, slowly and sternly. +</P> + +<P> +"I have given them for a good object, very dear to my heart. I am sure +you would approve of it. Please, papa, do not ask me any more about it +now. I do not want to tell you yet. It is a secret. I have promised, +just to myself, and almost to God, never to tell any one until a +certain thing is accomplished—until I can fully succeed." +</P> + +<P> +"What is the matter with you, child? Have you lost your senses? You +had no right to give away things intrusted to your care. I have told +you that, by your mother's simple will, all she had was left at my +disposition. Am I to be disappointed in both my children?" and the +colonel bowed his head upon his hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear papa, you are not to be disappointed in me! I have done nothing +wrong." Here Alma's conscience gave her a sharp prick. Suddenly she +broke out, after a moment's pause, "I want to be like the princess. I +am sure that would please you, papa! You know she sold her jewels for +a home for the sick poor." +</P> + +<P> +The colonel answered seriously: "The princess is a saintly woman, and +you would do well to follow her example. She sold her jewels to build +a home for the aged sick, but she did not do it, princess and grown +woman as she was, until she had asked the consent of her mother and her +brother the king. What have you done, my child? What have you been +thinking of? You must explain yourself fully. I have a right to +demand it!" +</P> + +<P> +Alma again left the room, to return with the little yellow house in her +hands. "Here is my savings-box, papa," she said; "Nono made it for me." +</P> + +<P> +A flush of pleasure came over the face of the colonel. "So exactly +like Karin's cottage!" he exclaimed. "What a clever little boy! I +like him." +</P> + +<P> +"I thought—I thought," said Alma, encouraged by her father's smile—"I +thought I would like to have a home for sick little children. I wanted +to save my money to do something really good and lasting, instead of +fooling it away by giving a little here and there, that did not after +all do much good to anybody. I have saved all I could, and have given +nothing away for anything else, but it went very slowly, and then I +thought of those ornaments that were to be mine, and—I really did not +think you would care." Here Alma blushed, and added, "I hoped you +would not mind!" and her tears fell fast. +</P> + +<P> +"My poor child!" said the colonel, as he put his arm around her and +drew her to his side. "So this is the explanation of the change that +had passed over you, and had given me so much pain!—my little Alma, +who loved so dearly to give, and who has lately been so hard and cold +that the very idea of an appeal from a poor family seemed to close her +heart and stiffen her face into determined opposition. You cannot be a +princess, dear, and do some great thing. I am afraid there was more +pride than holy love in your plan. You should not think of yourself +when you want to do good, but of your heavenly Master and his suffering +brothers. Remember that! That was your dear mother's way. Self +seemed dead in her. If she could but have lived to teach you by her +beautiful example! It is not in seeking to do some great thing that we +are in the right path. The little things that come to us day by day +and hour by hour are safest for most Christians, and surely so for +beginners. Where is the key to this locked little house?" +</P> + +<P> +Alma produced the key at once, and placed it in her father's hands. He +might open that small door if he pleased. She fancied it would be +almost wrong to do it herself. +</P> + +<P> +The door was opened, and there, among small coins and great, lay the +jewels. The crystal of the watch had been broken by some falling +contribution. The colonel took the watch in his hand, and said,— +</P> + +<P> +"This can easily be repaired. You must wear it constantly; and may it +remind you that the best gifts to God are those that are offered +humbly, modestly, with no thought of self, and with no desire for the +praise of man. If the little watch can so remind you of your duty, it +will be a holy messenger to you, and so in a way set apart to the +service of God. You have unwisely given, as you thought, the diamonds +to the poor. We will not take them back. Your dear mother had not +herself worn them for many years. They shall be sold, and you may send +the money anonymously to any hospital for children where help is +needed. So you will keep your motives. With the money lying in the +little cottage you can have the joy of helping the suffering poor; but +you had better consult with me as to how to use it. It is not to be +thrown away now lavishly on every applicant, to do perhaps more harm +than good. Lay the jewels in the case and lock the door of the little +cottage." He was going to add, "Remember, Alma, that one kind word +from you to your brother is a better offering for you than much money +given in charity." The words were not spoken. He but said, "Poor +Frans! where is he? God help my boy!" +</P> + +<P> +Alma put her arm round her father's neck and whispered, "Dear papa, if +Frans comes home—when he comes home, I do really mean to be more kind +to him than ever before; but he—" +</P> + +<P> +"No 'buts,' Alma," said the father. "However far wrong your brother +has gone, he is still your brother, your only brother, and it will be +your duty to love him, and pray for him, and watch over him with tender +affection. He has no mother. You must be to him all that a good +sister can be." +</P> + +<P> +"Papa!" said Alma, deeply moved, "you are too gentle towards me. I do +not deserve it. I half felt all the while that I might be doing wrong +about those things that did not really belong to me. I see it now very +plainly. I would not listen to my conscience. I see I had a foolish +pride in what I was trying to do. I did not see it clearly then, but +now I know I was taking possession of what did not really belong to +me—I who have been so angry with Frans, so ashamed even to think of +him as my brother! I don't know what I should have been if I had +fallen into temptation, and had had a bad companion to lead me on! +Please, please, papa, forgive me! I know you do; but I cannot forgive +myself! I am sure the sight of dear mamma's watch ought always to make +me humble." +</P> + +<P> +"May God help you and keep you from all evil!" said the father +solemnly, as he kissed his daughter and bade her good-night. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SPECTACLES. +</H3> + +<P> +The news of the disappearance of Frans had brought gloom to the golden +house. There he had been lovingly received, and had appeared at his +best. Nono was clear in his mind that Frans had had nothing to do with +the theft, however wrong he might have done in running away and causing +his friends such painful anxiety. +</P> + +<P> +Jan shut his mouth firmly and went about in determined silence. Karin +cried as if it had been her own boy who had gone wrong. +</P> + +<P> +"He hasn't had any mother to look after him," said Nono, and he patted +Karin tenderly. "If you could have had him it would have been quite +different, I am sure." +</P> + +<P> +"That is a fact," said one of the twins. +</P> + +<P> +"A solid fact!" echoed the other. +</P> + +<P> +Karin smiled for a moment kindly, and then said soberly, "If only Uncle +Pelle were here! I should so like to know what he would say." +</P> + +<P> +Old Pelle had gone on his pedestrian trip. Not that he had any +sportsman accoutrements, or used any slang as to the particulars of his +expedition. In one respect he was prepared for his excursion on the +strictest modern principles. He was lightly equipped as to clothing, +and in woollen garments from top to toe. Better still, he had a light +heart within, and a thankful one. He was out on a pleasant errand. +</P> + +<P> +Pelle was now a settled resident in the parish where the golden cottage +stood, with occupation pledged to him while he had strength to work, +and a support as long as life lasted. The colonel had settled that +matter; and Karin rejoiced to see the shadows cleared from the old +man's future, with the bright prospect of his continuing to be "a +blessing" to them, as she said, "while he was above the green grass." +</P> + +<P> +Pelle had left a few trifles at the poorhouse, where he had been +grudgingly received during his last long attack of serious illness. He +had before been unable to make up his mind to go after his small +belongings. There had been lingering in the depths of his heart a germ +of bitterness about the whole affair, and he had been afraid it might +spring into strong life if he returned to see the old place again. Now +the rankling, tormenting thoughts had vanished in the sunshine that had +come to him, and he was sure it would be pleasant to see the familiar +scenes again, and to take well-known people by the hand in a friendly +way, and let bygones be bygones. +</P> + +<P> +Pelle had been rowed over to the opposite side of the bay, to avoid an +unnecessary bit of walking; and now that he was expected home, Nono was +sent across the water to meet him. Nono was already in the boat and +taking up the oars, when Alma came strolling along the shore with her +hands full of wild flowers, for she had been botanizing. "Let me row +with you," she said eagerly to Nono. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Nono; "I am going after Uncle Pelle. But the boat—" and +he looked at Alma's light dress, and then at the traces left of the +last trip of the fishermen to whom the boat belonged. +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind that," said Alma cheerily. "I can manage my dress, and I +do so love to row." She seated herself and took up a pair of oars. +</P> + +<P> +It was a long pull across the bay, and they were only half over when +they saw a sail-boat in front of them, making for the wider part of the +inlet. +</P> + +<P> +"Not very good sailors, I think," said Nono critically, for Pelle had +taught him how to trim a sail. He had hardly spoken the word when a +flaw struck the little skiff they were watching, and it capsized +instantly. There was a loud shriek from the place of the accident, and +a groan from Nono and Alma. They could soon see two heads, and arms +clinging to the upturned boat. Alma and Nono rowed desperately towards +the spot, but made slow progress, as the bay had suddenly grown rough, +and the wind was contrary. They could distinguish the faces now. One +was unknown, but Alma's eyes grew large and full of anguish as she +recognized her brother. "It is Frans!" she said to Nono. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," was his only reply, and they pulled with even more determination +than before. In a few moments Frans and his companion were taken on +board by Alma and Nono. +</P> + +<P> +"Frans!" said Alma, as she laid her hand in his, "I was so afraid—I +was so afraid we should not reach you in time. You can swim; why +didn't you start out for us?" +</P> + +<P> +"Knut here can't swim, and of course I couldn't leave him. I knew I +couldn't keep him up and make my way to you. It was better for us to +hold fast as long as we could." +</P> + +<P> +A well-manned boat was now seen coming towards them from the shore. +The strong rowers soon brought it to their side. Knut looked meaningly +at Frans, but was silent. +</P> + +<P> +"We must have those young fellows," said the person in command, who was +evidently an officer of justice. +</P> + +<P> +The dripping boys changed their quarters without a word. Frans turned +and looked at Alma as the boat he had entered headed for the shore. +"Thank you, sister," he called out; "you rowed like a man!" +</P> + +<P> +He had never called her "sister" before. Alma's eyes filled with +tears. She moved as if to row after her brother. +</P> + +<P> +"Uncle Pelle will be expecting us. I think I see him there waiting," +said Nono. "We must go for him." Nono was decided. This was the +errand on which he was sent, and the duty must be done, even though +Miss Alma might be displeased with him. Alma looked impatient, but +after a moment she began to move her pair of oars willingly as she +said, "You are right, Nono," and relapsed into silence. +</P> + +<P> +When Pelle came on board, Nono did not say anything about what had +happened until Pelle himself, who had seen the whole from the shore, +asked what it all meant, and who the boys were who had so mismanaged +their boat, "green hands" as he could see. +</P> + +<P> +"You can tell him, Nono," said Alma. "He will have to know it all. +But I am so glad Frans was not drowned!" +</P> + +<P> +Alma looked straight forward over the water, while Nono, as kindly as +he could, told in a few words all the sad story to Pelle, who listened +in silence; but towards the close a strange gleam of intelligence came +into his eyes. Pelle never talked if he were not in the humour, and +now Nono was not surprised that no answer came from the old man's +firmly-closed lips. +</P> + +<P> +Alma was the first to step ashore. With a hurried nod to her +companions she moved off swiftly towards her home. +</P> + +<P> +"Now pull for town—pull, Nono!" said Pelle, with unusual energy, +taking up himself the oars that Alma had laid down. +</P> + +<P> +Pull they did, tired as were Nono's young arms, and feeble as were +Pelle's. The distance was short by water, and the two were soon at the +magistrate's office, where Pelle expected to find the delinquent boys. +They were already there. Their wet clothes had been changed, and they +were for the moment in private conversation with the colonel, who had +been summoned immediately on their arrival. +</P> + +<P> +In the pocket of the dripping coat that had been worn by Frans a bundle +of the missing bank-notes had been found, carelessly rolled in a bit of +yellow wrapping-paper. This all the by-standers about the door had +heard, for the proceedings at the country seat of justice seem to be +considered to belong to the small public of the neighbourhood. +</P> + +<P> +While Pelle was waiting without, Nono having been sent back at once +with the boat, the colonel was holding Frans by the hand, and talking +to him from the depths of his stirred paternal heart. +</P> + +<P> +"I have you, Frans, as one alive from the dead, and so I must talk to +you," said the colonel solemnly. "Don't answer me; don't speak a word, +Frans!—And you, boy," and he turned towards Knut, "keep quiet. No +excuses; no explanations from either of you!—I want to say to you, +Frans, what I should have longed to say to you if you had sunk in that +deep water. I have not watched over you as I should, my boy. I take +my share in the blame of what you have done. I have been too wrapped +up in my own sorrows, my own ill-health, and my own melancholy +reflections, to be to you what I ought to have been. I find I love you +most intensely, and your loss would have been a terrible blow to me. +Your bright face gone for ever from the home would have made it dreary +indeed. You have caused me great sorrow by running away, and have, I +fear, been guilty of that for which the law must punish you." +</P> + +<A NAME="img-142"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-142.jpg" ALT="Frans admonished." BORDER="2" WIDTH="331" HEIGHT="463"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 331px"> +Frans admonished. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Frans stirred as if about to speak. +</P> + +<P> +"Silence!" said his father sternly. "The missing bank-notes were some +of them found in your coat pocket. You had no such money when you left +home; you will be called on to account for its being there." +</P> + +<P> +Frans stared speechlessly at his father, and then looked at his +companion. +</P> + +<P> +"He's been free with money since we were out," said Knut; "but I +supposed such high-fliers had always no end of cash on hand, and never +suspected anything more than the boys' frolic we started out for when +we found it had gone contrary for us at school." +</P> + +<P> +"Papa!" began Frans eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +At the moment an officer came in to say, "There is an old man +outside—old Pelle everybody calls him—who says he <I>must</I> see the +boys; that it is most important for them." The magistrate and Pelle +and several other solemn-looking individuals entered the room. +</P> + +<P> +Pelle looked first at Frans and then at his companion. The strange +gleam came again into his eyes as he bowed to all present and asked to +be allowed to tell his story. Permission to speak was authoritatively +given him, and he began,— +</P> + +<P> +"About four hours ago I was standing by the bay, up at Trolleudden, +when I saw that young fellow," pointing at Knut, "come up to a chap who +had a sail-boat there to let to the summer villa people. The boy +wanted a boat for a trip down the bay. He was willing to pay +handsomely, he said, and he did, with a bank-note, though he didn't +look as if he were much used to handling that sort of thing. I somehow +thought there must be something wrong about it. Then I went up to the +little inn to get a glass of milk and a bit of bread. When I came into +the sitting-room, there was a boy there, who sat with his arms on the +table, and his head on his hands, with his hat tipped down so over his +eyes that I couldn't see his face. He was dressed like a workman, with +a leather apron on, and a coarse shirt, and an old overcoat outside, +though it was so warm I was glad to go in my flannel sleeves. There +was something queer about the boy. I could see his hands. They were +not very clean, to be sure, but they didn't look as if they had seen +much real work. I soon got through thinking about the boy, who seemed +to be asleep. I finished my bread and milk, and took out my book to +read while I rested, and quite forgot where I was. Suddenly I heard +somebody steal into the room, tiptoe up, and stand behind me. I kept +quite still, but on the watch, for I felt all was not right. As I +looked into my spectacles I saw who it was that was so near me. Often +in church I see the person who is standing behind me. I don't know how +it is, but I do, as if my spectacles were a looking-glass. I didn't +like the sly, bad face right before my eyes. I could not help seeing +it between me and the book, and I knew it was the lad who had hired the +boat. In a second an arm was stretched forward towards the boy who was +sitting very near me, the other side of the corner of the table, and a +little yellow parcel was tucked into the pocket of his great-coat. I +had nothing to say in the matter, and did not let on that I noticed it. +It might be some young folks' frolic. I am not used to meddle in other +people's business, but I generally know what goes on round me. The +face went out of my spectacles, and the door shut quietly. I finished +my reading and went out. Those boys I have not seen again to know them +till I meet the very same here." +</P> + +<P> +"What were you reading?" asked the magistrate sternly. +</P> + +<P> +"This book," said old Pelle, taking out his worn paper-covered "Thomas +à Kempis," and handing it to the gentleman, who returned it without a +word, but ordered the wet clothes of the boys to be brought in. "I +don't know those things, surely," said Pelle, pointing to the larger +suit, "but should say that might be the leather apron the younger boy +had on. I couldn't be sure either of the coat, but the striped shirt +is just like the wrist-band that showed as the boy had his arms on the +table, as he was asleep or pretended to be." +</P> + +<P> +"The roll of bank-notes was found in that coat, wrapped up in a bit of +yellow paper," said the magistrate. "You may sit down, Pelle." +</P> + +<P> +The magistrate then solemnly called on Frans to speak for himself. +</P> + +<P> +"I know nothing at all about the money," he said. "I heard somebody +coming in at the inn, and put down my head at once, and tipped my hat +forward to hide my face. I did not look up again until I had heard the +person beside me stir and then go out. I believe I had dozed a little, +but I can't be sure." +</P> + +<P> +Knut, when questioned, denied having seen old Pelle at all, and +declared that it was probable the whole story had been made up after +the old man had heard outside that the notes were found in Frans's +pocket. As if anybody could see who was behind him by looking into his +own spectacles! It had been a bad business going off with Frans, and +he was very sorry for it. He had found Frans in such a taking about +his bad report, ashamed and afraid to go home, and talking of working +his way as a sailor over the ocean. "Of course I went with him, and +tried to take care of him," said Knut, "and this is my reward! Frans +and that old fellow have been regular 'chums.' I have often seen them +together. Of course 'the quality' would have somebody to turn the +world upside down to help them. Frans has his own father, but I"—here +Knut sobbed audibly—"a poor widow's son, have nobody to stand by me. +If my <I>poor</I> mother were here, what could she do for me? But she is +far back in the country, not knowing what her boy has come to by trying +to help a young scamp who had got into a tight place." +</P> + +<P> +There was much sympathy for Knut in the little assembly, and "Poor +fellow! poor fellow!" had been murmured by more than one listener as he +went on. +</P> + +<P> +"See out of the back of his head!" continued Knut, "or in his +spectacles, as he says! Likely! Better try him," he boldly concluded. +</P> + +<P> +"A good suggestion," said the magistrate. +</P> + +<P> +The court-room seemed suddenly changed into a playroom for grown +people. Pelle was placed on a chair, now here and now there, while +different people were placed behind him, and he was called on to say +who was leaning towards his shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +Pelle looked and looked in vain. The spectacles told no tales. A +sneer went round the room again and again, and Knut was heard to +chuckle as he said, "Of course he made up the whole story. That any +one in his senses could believe it!" +</P> + +<P> +Pelle was discomfited. At last he said falteringly, "I have told the +truth. I did see that face in my spectacles, but I don't see anything +now. It has happened to me many times in church on Sunday morning. I +am sure I could do it where I sit in the church." +</P> + +<P> +"Why not let him try it in the church?" said the colonel. "I am sure +the pastor would give his permission." +</P> + +<P> +The experiment in the church was arranged for the next morning. +</P> + +<P> +Frans and his companion were left in custody for the night, and the +colonel went home with a sad heart, but not without some hope that his +son would be proved to be innocent. For it was true that Frans had +been much at the golden house, and was a great favourite there, and it +was not impossible that the temptation to free him had been too strong +for Pelle to resist. +</P> + +<P> +The morning came, and at eleven o'clock there was an unusual gathering +in the parish church. The stillness round the marble sleepers on the +monumental tombs was broken, not by the sound of prayer and praise, but +by the low hush of murmuring voices and the tramp of eager feet. Pelle +came quietly in and took his usual seat. He bowed his head, just from +habit, then followed a silent petition, not for a blessing on the +services of the sanctuary, but that the innocent might be defended and +the guilty brought to justice. +</P> + +<P> +He raised himself up and sat down, intending to wait for further +orders. He suddenly said in a sharp voice, "Take off your hat, Adam or +Enos!" and then turned unconsciously to look behind him. Yes, there +stood one of the twins, which he could not say, his mouth wide with +delight, while a murmur went round, "He was right this time!" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course it was all planned before at the cottage," said a dissenting +voice. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't plan to have boys stand in the church with their hats on," +said Pelle. +</P> + +<P> +"I ordered the boy to take his place there myself," said the magistrate. +</P> + +<P> +Again and again the experiment was tried, and with success, even the +pastor and the magistrate curiously taking their turn in the +performance; Pelle then, most respectfully stating whom he had had the +honour to see, bowing as he did so. +</P> + +<P> +At last all present were fully convinced that Pelle had spoken the +truth, and he was conducted in a kind of triumphal procession back to +the cottage. +</P> + +<P> +The question was everywhere agitated, "What is to 'come of' Pelle's +testimony?" The fate of the boys was not to be altogether decided by +him. +</P> + +<P> +The authorized messengers who had been sent to the little inn where +Pelle had stopped came back with the innkeeper and the owner of the +boat that had been hired by the boys. From them it was easily learned +that the culprits had been seen at the time mentioned by Pelle, and had +been considered suspicious strangers, especially the older lad, who was +foolishly free with his money, and had a bold, bad look about him. The +younger boy was described as cast down, and evidently not on good terms +with his companion. +</P> + +<P> +The case did not come to a public trial. A large part of the money +taken had been recovered, the note paid for the boat being identified +as one of the missing bills. The merchant who had been robbed declined +prosecuting the offender, as his loss was fully made good to him by the +colonel. It was, however, exacted in the agreement that Knut should be +sent out of the country at once. +</P> + +<P> +The pastor took Knut home with him, and gave him such a kind, serious +talk that the poor lad's heart was quite melted, and he, sincere for +the time at least, promised to try to lead a better life. +</P> + +<P> +"He will only go to ruin if he is sent to prison," Pelle had said. +"May God help the boy in his own way! I will try to help him in mine. +Who knows what I might have been if I had kept on as a sailor!" So +Pelle, for the time a prominent man, went round in the neighbourhood +and collected money enough to send the guilty boy over the Atlantic to +begin life again in the far West. +</P> + +<P> +Karin wrote a short letter to her "son in America," full of love to +Erik, and with a request that he would do what he could for Knut to +help him on in the right way. Oke penned a full description of the +whole affair, which he declared was written so plainly that anybody +ought to understand it, let alone a Swede like Erik, born in the best +country in the world, though he did now seem to be more than half an +American. +</P> + +<P> +A neat suit of clothes had been sent to Frans by the careful +housekeeper, so that he looked quite like himself when he took his seat +beside his father for his homeward drive. +</P> + +<P> +Oke had made haste to tell all the neighbourhood of the success of +Pelle in the church, and Alma had had her share of the good news. +Whether Frans would be allowed to return home with his father she had +not yet heard. She sat anxiously watching at the window, when there +was a sound of carriage-wheels in the avenue. There were two persons +in the carriage! Yes, one was certainly Frans! +</P> + +<P> +Alma ran down to the veranda. "Dear, dear Frans! I am so glad to see +you!" she exclaimed, as she put her arm around him; and so they +followed their father into the house. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, sister!" he answered, with a quivering lip. He could say +no more. +</P> + +<P> +The colonel went into the library and closed the door, and Frans and +his sister were left together. They went back to the veranda and sat +down side by side, Frans still struggling to gain self-command. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear brother," began Alma, "I am so sorry I have been a cross, +disagreeable sister to you. I mean to be better. I shall try, and you +must forgive me if I fail, and am cross to you sometimes." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't speak so, sister," said Frans, interrupting her. "You do not +know what you have been to me. You have kept me from much that is +wrong. When I have been with the boys, and have been tempted to speak +and do as some of them did, I have thought of you. 'What would Alma +say to such talk and such doings?' would come into my mind and help me +to resist temptation. I have thought of you as something higher, +holier, purer than myself. And such a good scholar, too! I have +always been proud of my sister. You found fault with me, of course. I +deserved it, poor, thoughtless fellow that I have been. I cannot be +like you, Alma, but I am really going to try to be better. I have done +with idle ways and bad companions. I did not know what Knut really was +until we came to be constantly together, and then, bad as I was, I +thanked God that I had had such a father and such a sister and such a +home. It is only God's mercy that has saved me from a prison. I had +no way to prove my innocence. What I have suffered you can understand, +but I deserved it all. I have been doing badly all the term. I tried +to make it up at the last. All went well with me in the morning, but +in the afternoon I was so worn out and so tired and dull that I could +not command myself to say what I really knew. Of course I made a +miserable failure. I was afraid to meet my father and ashamed to see +your face when I had come out so badly. I did the worst thing I could +do. I added wrong to wrong, not thinking of all the worry and trouble +I was making. I was quite desperate when I met Knut, and he proposed +that we should go off together. I caught at the plan.—Listen. When I +was hanging, clinging to the boat, in that deep water, so far from the +shore, my whole life came before me; and what a worthless life it was! +I seemed shut out from heaven. I felt so miserable and hopeless and +wretched! Then I saw you coming over the water. You looked so pale +and slight, but you worked like a man. Then I understood that you +loved me, that you really cared for me, and would forgive me. I did +not know then of the dreadful thing of which I was suspected, but you +did, and you and dear father were willing to forgive me. That helped +me afterwards to understand that I might try to lead a new life, and to +believe our heavenly Father too could forgive me, and willingly give me +strength to do better." +</P> + +<P> +Alma had several times tried to speak, but Frans had laid his hand +pleadingly on hers as he went on. Now she said solemnly, "Thank God, +Frans! we are to begin our new life together. I have not been the true +Christian you seem to have thought me, in spite of my very wrong way +towards you. I feel that I have set you a very bad example. We must +help each other now." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>You</I> must help me," said Frans soberly; then starting up, he +exclaimed, "But I am forgetting Marie, who has always been so kind to +me. You can't think how many messages she managed to send me when I +was in town in disgrace, and little things to eat, too, that she +thought I would like." +</P> + +<P> +Marie was lingering in the hall, listening not to catch the words of +the conversation going on without, but enjoying the satisfaction of +hearing the voice of her "dear boy," as she called him, once more in +his own home. She had made up her mind, however, to reprove him +sharply for causing them all so much trouble. When, however, she saw +him looking so humble and sorrowful, so little like himself, she had no +reproaches for him, but took his offered hand affectionately, and +exclaimed, "You dear boy!" as if he had been a little child. +</P> + +<P> +And Frans felt like a child—a naughty child; but a child forgiven, and +resolved to do better. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +QUESTIONINGS. +</H3> + +<P> +Another spring had come to the golden house. Such a little family as +Karin now had! She quite mourned over it. The twins had gone to +America; Erik had written for them. He had now a good place on a farm, +where there was work for two such "hands" as he was sure Adam and Enos +must be, raised in such a home. The twins had been good teachers of +the Swedish language in their way, the best way, by example; and Erik +was soon able to write a letter again that could be understood at the +golden house without a translator. He wrote that the twins were the +admiration of the country round, and his pride too. So Karin was +thankful; but she missed the big, boisterous fellows, and said she felt +like an old table trying to stand on three legs, with only Thor and +Sven and Nono at home. +</P> + +<P> +Pelle and Nono still had many cozy talks together, for which the boy +was much wiser and the old man much happier. But the time came when +the little Italian had a real sorrow. +</P> + +<P> +Up in Stockholm the solemn bells were ringing, and mourning garments +and mourning hats were everywhere. In stately mansions and in dreary +attics real tears of sorrow were shed. The good princess was dead. In +the palace, in a grand apartment all draped in black, lay her silent, +wasted body, on a pompous funeral bier. Throngs of the loftiest and +the noblest of the land passed slowly by, in solemn procession, to pay +their last respects to the humble princess and the true-hearted woman +who had gone to her reward. Rough peasants and the poor of the city +came too, with their tribute of real mourning, grateful to see once +more the face of the loving friend who had cast sunlight into their +shadowed lives. +</P> + +<P> +Far away in the country little Nono's heart was sorrowful. <I>His</I> +princess was dead! No one had been able to really comfort him. +Suddenly he seemed to see her bright and glad in the Holy City. She +was at home at last! She was where she belonged—where "the inhabitant +shall no more say, I am sick;" where "the wicked cease from troubling, +and the weary be at rest." Nono had now his princess in heaven, and he +went about his work with something of the light in his face which he +had seemed to see in hers. +</P> + +<P> +From the hospital there came the news that little Decima was drooping +and sad. She said she must cry because the princess would never take +her on her knee again and call her "Decima Desideria." The child +declared she was well now, and she wanted to go home. Indeed she was +as well as she could ever be, the doctors said, but she would be a +cripple for life. She must always walk with a crutch. A change would +do the child good, was the universal opinion; so home came the little +girl, to her mother's great delight. +</P> + +<P> +"Such a dear little useful creature as she had learned to be," Karin +said, and it was true. As to knitting and crochet-work, no one in that +parish could match her. The little lame girl really brought sunshine +back to the golden house. She had such sweet songs to sing, and such +hymns for Sunday, that Jan said it was quite like going to church to +hear her, or more like hearing the little angels doing their best up in +heaven. To Pelle she particularly attached herself, laughing merrily, +as she said they belonged together, as they both walked with a stick. +</P> + +<P> +Decima was soon the soul of merriment. She seemed to have been +provided with an extra stock of gladness, to bubble over, in spite of +her misfortune, to be a joy to herself and all about her. Her +resources for talk were inexhaustible. She had always stories to tell +of her stay at the hospital, something that had happened to herself or +the other little patients, whose biographies she had quite by heart. +</P> + +<P> +Of the princess Decima never wearied of talking—how she played with +the children, even let them cover her with hay, then rose up suddenly +out of the silent heap, and smiled at them so friendly, just like an +angel, they all thought. What sweet words she wrote to them, too, +about the good Shepherd that would willingly lead them to the green +pastures! +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, little Decima is lame for life, but it has been her greatest +blessing," said Pelle to Karin. Karin opened her eyes wide, and he +went on: "We all spoiled Decima. The boys petted and teased her, and +even you, Karin, seemed to think the world must be made all smooth for +her. The princess has taught her the way to heaven, and has gone +before, so the child understands what a real place heaven is. We +mustn't spoil her again." +</P> + +<P> +The caution was needed. When Decima was pleased to speak, all +listened. Something was said one day in her presence about a monkey. +She began to laugh cheerily, and told about a baby monkey that a +hand-organ man brought once to the hospital in his pocket. She had +seen him from the window. It was a queer man, they all thought, for he +said he was looking for a golden house, where he left a baby long ago. +Maybe it was Nono he meant. He only stayed a little while, and then +went away, and never came back again. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-161"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-161.jpg" ALT=""She had seen the hand-organ man from the window."" BORDER="2" WIDTH="329" HEIGHT="470"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 329px"> +"She had seen the hand-organ man from the window." +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Nono's eyes gleamed as he listened, and his mouth trembled so he could +not speak. "It must have been my father!" he exclaimed at last, and +his tears fell fast. +</P> + +<P> +So thought all the family, and the news was soon spread abroad that +Nono's father was in Sweden, and was looking for him. Decima had to +tell the story over and over again to listeners in the house and +listeners without. The colonel and the pastor set on foot an inquiry +for the man who had appeared months ago at the hospital, but with no +apparent result. The interest in the search gradually died away, and +it was the general conclusion that the man had returned discouraged to +his native land. +</P> + +<P> +As for Nono, he was quite changed. He did not give up the hope of +finding his own father. He seemed always listening, looking out for, +expecting something. Yet he did his work faithfully, and was more than +ever thoughtful of Karin, and dutiful and obedient towards Jan. There +was a special tenderness towards the dear friends in the cottage, as if +the time of parting might be near. The likeness of the princess seemed +meanwhile to have become especially dear to him. He would stand and +look at it long and wistfully, as if he would ask his friend some deep +question, or read in her inmost soul. +</P> + +<P> +Pelle watched the boy narrowly, and grew uneasy about him. Nono was +not inclined to talk about his father, and Pelle would not force his +confidence. He was afraid some wild scheme was forming in the mind of +the boy, some plan of going off in search of his father. Pelle took +occasion at one time to speak of the sorrow Frans had caused in his +home by his disappearance; at another, he enlarged on the dangers that +beset young lads without the protecting care of those who understood +life better than they did, etc., with innumerable variations. +</P> + +<P> +Nono listened in respectful silence, but with a wandering, wistful look +in his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Alma had been intensely interested in Decima's story. Nono's life was +quite like a romance, she said, and she wished she could turn to the +last page of the story, as she often did in a book she was reading. +She, too, was watching and waiting and expecting. The sound of a +hand-organ brought her at once to the window, and many a wandering +musician was astonished with questions in Swedish and Italian as to +whether he was looking for the golden house, where he had left a baby +long ago; what had become of Pionono, the bear; if Francesca were dead, +etc. Such questions, put so suddenly and skilfully, Alma fancied would +be sure to bring out the truth. The puzzled stragglers often went away +from Ekero half suspecting that they were losing their own wits or the +young lady had quite lost hers, or that Swedish and Italian were now so +confused in their brains that they could fully understand neither. +When such wanderers happened to meet Nono on the highroad, they were +likely to be further mystified by the dark boy's saying suddenly, +"Don't I look like an Italian?" or "I am the baby that was left at the +golden house," or some other equally surprising question or +announcement. +</P> + +<P> +If Nono chanced to have neglected to speak to such a stranger, he was +haunted by the thought that perhaps that very man was his father, and +he might have lost his only opportunity of succeeding in his search. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall be glad when winter comes, and these black-haired fellows stop +tramping the country round," said Karin one day. "I am tired of the +sight of them, and thinking when I see them perhaps they are coming to +carry off Nono. What should I do without him? Why, he's just like one +of my own boys." +</P> + +<P> +Karin was talking to Pelle. She always allowed herself the liberty of +saying out first what was in her heart to him. Now he answered her at +once. "You seem to think that Nono was made just to be a pleasure to +you, like a baby's plaything. A pleasure he has been to you and to us +all, and that I don't deny. God knows what he means to do with the +boy, and we don't. It's likely he'll have to go out like the others to +earn his living. He can't weed and run errands for Miss Alma all his +life. You must think that he is getting to be a big boy, if we do call +him 'little Nono.' The Lord will take care of him, I am sure of that," +and Pelle turned away from Karin and went into his little room. +</P> + +<P> +Karin dashed away the tears that had come into her eyes at the very +thought of parting with Nono, but she thought to herself, "Pelle is +right. Nono is getting to be a big boy, and more's the pity. How glad +I am that I have Decima for company! and so cheerful and helpful the +child is. I don't know how I got on without her so long. If I had had +my way and kept her at home, she would have been a wild, spoiled little +thing, to be sure. The Lord's ways are best, as Pelle says. That's +what I am, a poor scholar at learning. A mother, though, must be a +mother, and that the Lord knows as well as I do, and that's a comfort." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +NONO'S PLANS, AND PLANS FOR NONO. +</H3> + +<P> +Winter had come again. Nono, who was usually of a contented spirit, +seemed continually displeased with the weather. It was now the last of +January. There had for many weeks been a pleasant alternation of +sunshine and storm, of cold and a milder temperature. The snow had +been continually on the ground, but not deep enough to be in any way an +inconvenience; yet Nono was not satisfied. At last the light flakes +had fallen slowly for several days, and then the paths about the +cottage were cut out sharply, as from the solid rock. +</P> + +<P> +Nono's face wore an expression of musing satisfaction. He seemed now +in a mood for play. Thor and Sven were delighted when they heard him +ask their mother's permission to build in his spare time a snow-house +after a plan he had in his mind, and if it might stand in the open +space between the cottage and the gate. Karin was pleased to see Nono +looking so happy, and promptly granted his request. +</P> + +<P> +Nono found no difficulty in getting the other boys to act under his +direction, as they had great confidence in his architectural abilities. +With such willing hands the work went on cheerily, and with wonderful +rapidity. Block after block was put in its place, and the surface most +skilfully smoothed and hardened. +</P> + +<P> +After all, it only looked like a watch-house when it was done, Jan +said, and he was right. There was much playing sentinel among the +children, as they stood on guard, being relieved at stated intervals, +even Decima being allowed to share in the fun. This kind of frolic +came to an end when Nono, with Karin's leave, had smeared the arched +interior with a dismal pasty composition from the refuse of the +coal-cellar at Ekero. +</P> + +<P> +Nono now ventured to ask Karin to lend him a sheet to hang for a few +days before the opening of the watch-house, as the structure was +familiarly called in the family. Sven and Thor gave each other +significant punches as the request was granted, to signify that no +sheet would have been loaned to them; which was no doubt a fact, as +they were not much to be relied on for discretion or care-taking. +</P> + +<P> +Now began the erection of something within the snow-house, which Nono +alone was allowed to touch. The so-called "little boys" were of the +opinion that Nono was making the stump of a crooked old tree; but Oke, +who considered himself an authority in the family as to matters +literary and artistic, declared his opinion that Nono was making a +model of the leaning tower of Pisa, of which he spoke as familiarly as +if he had seen it personally in his travels. To the disappointment of +Decima and her brothers, they were soon all shut out from the scene of +Nono's labours; and he asked them so kindly not even to peep behind the +white curtain, that they gave their promise to do as he wished, and +promises were held sacred at the golden house. +</P> + +<P> +One morning, early in February, Nono had gone out early to "the +watch-house," and had removed the curtain, as the sheet was +respectfully called. The family had finished their breakfast, and were +just breaking up to set off in different directions, when there was a +sound of sleigh-bells stopping at the gate. +</P> + +<P> +The colonel and a gentleman who was staying at Ekero had started out +for a morning drive, "Shall we pass near the post-office?" said the +gentleman, taking a letter from his pocket. "I forgot to say before we +left the house that I had a letter I was anxious to have mailed at +once. It is my wife's name-day, and I want her to get a few words from +me." +</P> + +<P> +"We shall not pass the post-office," said the colonel, "but I can get a +trusty messenger here;" and the coachman drew up at once at the cottage. +</P> + +<P> +The gentleman started, and the colonel sprang to his feet in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"How wonderful! so like her! I almost thought I had seen a spectre!" +said the stranger. "And her name-day, too. My wife was named after +the princess." +</P> + +<P> +Yes! There stood the princess in white garments, seemingly coming +forward, her figure gracefully bowed, as it was in life, as if by a +loving, unconscious desire of the heart to draw near to all who +approached her. A fleecy shawl seemed to lie lightly over her +shoulders. Snow-white coils of hair crowned her head, and her fair +face had a pure sweetness of its own. +</P> + +<P> +"It is wonderfully like her!" said the stranger. +</P> + +<P> +The family from the cottage now came out, Nono leading Karin, who had +all the while been in the secret, and the rest eagerly following. +</P> + +<P> +"Is this your work, Nono?" said the colonel. +</P> + +<P> +Nono modestly bowed, and murmured an answer, while his eyes glowed as +if they were on fire. +</P> + +<P> +The sound of little Decima sobbing broke in on the conversation. "That +is a cold white princess!" she said. "She can't take me on her knee +and tell me pretty stories. I don't like the cold white princess!" +</P> + +<P> +Jan took Decima in his arms, while the colonel said pleasantly: "But we +like her, Decima; and we loved the princess, both of us; and this +gentleman's wife has her name; and he has written a letter to her that +we want taken to the post-office at once, that she may get it on her +name-day.—Can you go, Nono?" +</P> + +<P> +Nono was glad to spring away with the letter, full of happy +thoughts—that every one knew that it was the princess, his dear snow +princess, that he had made with his own hands! The gentlemen liked it, +too! +</P> + +<P> +While Nono was joyously bounding along the road to the village, the +group round the statue could not get through admiring it. +</P> + +<P> +"He's a wonder, that boy!" said Karin, as she went into the cottage. +"That he should come to me to bring up, when I can't cut out a +gingerbread baby so that it looks like anything!" +</P> + +<P> +"God knows why he sent him to you, Karin," said Pelle, "and God will +know what to do with him in the time that is coming. He is a wonderful +boy, that is sure!" +</P> + +<P> +While the simple people at the golden house were talking in this way +about Nono, the colonel and his guest had driven away. The stranger +had promised to come in the afternoon and take a photograph of the snow +statue, and of Nono too, the very best he could get, and of the whole +family group just as he had seen them. +</P> + +<P> +As the gentlemen drove on together they talked of the princess, beloved +by rich and poor, and of the visitor's wife, one of the pure in heart +worthy to bear the name of her honoured friend. +</P> + +<P> +Nono, too, was the subject of conversation. His whole story was told, +and listened to with intense interest. It was agreed that Nono should, +with Karin's permission, come for some hours every day to Ekero to wait +upon the stranger, who was a sculptor, and was making a marble bust of +the colonel's wife from the various likenesses of her, assisted by her +husband's vivid descriptions of her ever-remembered face and her person +and character. +</P> + +<P> +"I must know that boy, and take him to Italy with me in the spring if I +can," said the sculptor. "There is an artist in him, I am sure, and it +will only be a pleasure to train him." +</P> + +<P> +When, later, Pelle heard the plan that was proposed, he said quickly,— +</P> + +<P> +"Those artist fellows are not always the best to be trusted with the +care of a boy. It would be better for Nono to work in the fields, with +good Jan to look after him, than to make figures in a far country under +the greatest gentleman in the world who was not a good man." +</P> + +<P> +Karin looked relieved, and turned to hear what Jan would say on the +subject; for, after all, in important matters it was always Jan who +decided. +</P> + +<P> +"The colonel said, when he talked to me"—and here Jan paused and +looked about him. He did not object to having it understood that the +colonel considered him the head of the family, a fact which Jan himself +sometimes doubted—"the colonel said," he continued, "that artist was a +Christian man, and he had a wife just fit to be called, as she was, +after the princess, and he couldn't say any more. And he didn't need +to! They haven't any children of their own, so she just goes where he +goes, everywhere, and she's the kind of a woman to be the making of +Nono, such a boy as he is. Nono will go with him in the spring; I have +made up my mind on that matter." +</P> + +<P> +Karin began to cry. "To bring him up, and such a nice boy as he is, +and such a wonderful boy, too; and to love him so, and then have to +give him to people who hardly know him at all!" and Karin fairly sobbed. +</P> + +<P> +"You are partial to Nono, Karin," said Jan sternly. He never held back +a rebuke for Karin when he thought she deserved it. "You never took on +so when your own boys went away, three of them, over the sea." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Our</I> boys <I>are our</I> boys," said Karin, "and that makes a difference. +They can't belong to anybody else. I should be their own mother, and +they'd feel it, and so should I, if they lived in the moon. But Nono, +off there, he may find his own father and mother and never come back. +They may be tramping kind of people. Most likely they are, and there's +no knowing what ways they might teach him. They have a right to him +and I haven't. That's what I feel. I love him just like my own. He +wouldn't turn the cold shoulder to his own father and mother if they +were poor as poverty or just fit for a prison, I know that. It +wouldn't be in him. Not that I think he would forget me. It would be +a shame to say it, such a good child as he has always been to me!" +</P> + +<P> +Jan put his hand on Karin's shoulder and looked helplessly at her, as +he generally did when she had a flood of tears and a flood of talk at +the same time. +</P> + +<P> +Pelle came to the rescue, as he had often done before. "Karin wants to +be Providence," he said. "She wants to take things into her own hands. +That's the way with women, especially mothers. There was my mother, +when I was a sailor, almost sure I would go to the bad; but God just +lays me up in a hospital, and turns me square round, and sets my face +to the better country. I just went home, and made up my mind to stay +by my mother, and do for her as long as she lived; and I did, God bless +her! It is good sense, Karin, to let the Lord manage his own way. +Your way might not turn out the best after all." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I know it," said Karin, wiping her eyes. "But things do come so +unexpected in this world, one can't ever be ready for them." +</P> + +<P> +"Just take one day at a time, Karin, and don't bother about what's +coming," said Pelle. "We can't any of us say what is to become of +Nono, not even Jan, who is so clear in his mind. We don't any of us +know what to-morrow may bring. He'll have just what the Lord has +planned for him. Women are better at bringing up 'critters' than +driving them when they are brought up. They are about the same with +boys. Mothers should bring up their boys right, and then let the Lord +do what he pleases with them afterwards. Isn't it so, Karin?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—maybe—I do suppose you are right, Pelle, and I'll try to +remember it. But a man don't know how a woman feels." +</P> + +<P> +"It's well they don't," said Jan curtly. "It wouldn't have suited what +I've had to do in life to be like them. Karin's heart is bigger than +her head; but things have worked well here so far, and it's likely it +will be so to the end," and Jan looked kindly after Karin as she went +off to feed the chickens, with Decima in her train, evidently thinking +her mother was the injured party. +</P> + +<P> +At the bottom of his heart Jan was convinced that he had about the best +wife in the world. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PIETRO. +</H3> + +<P> +The statue of the princess had long since passed away, and the thoughts +of the pleasant scenes around it had melted into the cheerful memories +of the past. In the cottage there were ever the photographs of the +beautiful white figure and of the family group, and under them an +almost perfect likeness of Nono. +</P> + +<P> +The real Nono was far away in the land of his forefathers. He was +sorely missed in the home where he had been so tenderly cared for. +Blackie was, as usual, wearing deep mourning, though he showed no +emotional signs of feeling the absence of his master. Blackie, like +many a precocious two-legged creature, had not developed into the +wonder that was expected. Example and daily association had made him +more and more like his fellows; and Nono had not been long away from +the golden house before Jan began to talk about the little black pig as +the pork of the future. +</P> + +<P> +Karin had supposed that the parting with Nono would be like the parting +with her other boys—a separation only lightened by letters coming +rarely, merely to tell that the absentees were well and doing famously. +With Nono it was quite otherwise. The letters from him came weekly, +almost as regularly as Sunday itself. And such letters as they were, +written so clearly, and containing such a particular account of his +doings, and, what Karin prized more, warm expressions of grateful +affection for the dear friends "at home," as he still called the golden +house, though it was plain that the once houseless little Italian had +now two homes. +</P> + +<P> +Nono wrote that the artist's wife treated him as if he were her own +son, and was teaching him carefully everything that would help him to +understand all that was about him. Object lessons they seemed to be, +with wonderful Rome for the great "kindergarten." He was learning +Italian too, and that he thought charming. As for his work in the +studio, it was only a pleasure, excepting that he was impatient for the +time when he could make beautiful things himself. When he had walked +in the streets at first, he had thought all the boys might at least +have been his cousins, and some of them made him feel as if he were +looking in the glass. Now and then he would meet a man that he felt +sure must be his father, but he did not often dare to speak to such +strangers. He had hoped and believed he should find his father in +Italy, but now he was sure it would be harder to know him there than in +Sweden. He had almost given up thinking about it lately, he had so +much to do and so much to see, and everybody was so kind to him. +</P> + +<P> +Karin did not feel that Nono was drifting away from her, though he +wrote so openly and affectionately of his new friends. His thankful +remembrance of all the love and care he had had at the cottage was +expressed in every letter, and a deeper gratitude for the kind +instruction that had taught him from his childhood to love his heavenly +Father, and to try to obey his holy laws. +</P> + +<P> +Alma missed Nono, it was true, for she had really grown fond of the +little friendly boy while he had been an inmate at Ekero; but she had a +new deep content in the pleasure she was learning to find in the +society of her brother. Together they were struggling heavenward, and +were daily a help and joy to each other. +</P> + +<P> +Alma was walking on the veranda one morning in early summer, when she +saw what she thought two tramps approaching. She had no liking for +such wanderers, and turned to go into the house. At that moment she +caught sight of the worn face of the older man, and stood still. He +looked so gentle, and yet so weary and weak, as he clung to the arm of +his younger companion. They were not dressed like Italians, nor like +any style of persons in particular, for their costume was evidently +made up of cast-off garments that had seen better days. Their faces, +though, were dark and thin, and there was a southern fire in the eyes +of the younger man as he said at once in tolerable Swedish, "Pietro +here is tired. He cannot get any further, miss. I told him he could +not hold out for this trip, but come he would, and I had to let him. +Perhaps he could sit down somewhere a few moments and get a glass of +milk or something like that." +</P> + +<P> +"He looks very tired," said Alma. "Go that way to the kitchen, and I +will see that you have something to eat." +</P> + +<P> +The colonel, hearing voices, came out at the moment. He saw at once +that the men were Italians, and addressed them in their own language. +The eyes of the one who had spoken flashed with pleasure, and a light +came into the face of his companion, who now said in Italian, "I have +been very ill. It is too cold for me up here. No summer, no summer! +The north killed my wife long ago, and I suppose it has killed me. I +knew this man when I was here before. I only met him again yesterday. +He knows where the house is I want to find. I left my boy there, a +baby, and I want to know if he is alive. It was Francesca's baby, and +she loved it before she went wrong," and he touched his forehead +significantly. +</P> + +<P> +The colonel looked meaningly at Alma, whose eyes were wide with intense +interest, for she had understood enough to follow the conversation. +</P> + +<P> +The colonel took the hand of the old man kindly, and said,— +</P> + +<P> +"You must rest here a little, and then we will talk together." +</P> + +<P> +When Pietro was refreshed by rest and food the colonel sat down beside +him, and told him all about the happy life Nono had had at the cottage, +and how he had made the snow statue of the princess, and was now far +away in Italy, learning to be perhaps a great sculptor himself. +</P> + +<P> +The tears rolled slowly down the old man's cheeks as he listened. "It +is good to hear, Enricho," he murmured, addressing his companion; "but +I am too late, as you see." +</P> + +<P> +"Can't we keep him here, and take care of him? He is our Nono's +father, of course, papa," said Alma, much moved. +</P> + +<P> +Alma had truly received into the inner chamber of her heart the +heavenly Guest, and she was eager to share all with his humbler +brethren. +</P> + +<P> +"Where shall we put him?" said the colonel thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"In the little room in the wing, where the painters slept last summer," +answered Alma promptly. "I will see that it is all nice for him. He +looks so sick and tired. I am sure Marie will do her best for him, she +was so fond of Nono. And, dear papa, we can use my money for him. I +have ever so much still left in my little cottage. Let me, please, +papa!" +</P> + +<P> +The colonel gazed lovingly at Alma as he said,— +</P> + +<P> +"Now you look so like your dear mother. It is just what she would have +said. Certainly we will keep him here." +</P> + +<P> +Enricho was only too glad to leave Pietro in the pleasant quarters that +were prepared for him before evening. When the weary old man lay down +in his comfortable bed, with everything neat and clean about him, he +felt as if he were in some strange, blissful dream. He was not to see +his boy; but how lovingly they had spoken of him! +</P> + +<P> +Karin cried like a child when she heard that Nono's poor father had +appeared; the very man she had dreaded to think of, who might come at +any time to carry off the boy who was as dear to her as her own +children. How she wished she could speak the poor father's language, +and tell him what Nono had been to her! Later, she did try to make him +understand it all, not only by broken Swedish words and signs, but with +Frans sometimes as a translator. Mr. Frans had been studying Italian +with his father, and was glad himself to talk about Nono. +</P> + +<P> +Pietro, broken down by hardship and illness, and thin and worn, seemed +older than he really was. Pelle and Pietro were soon good friends. It +was a precious time for Frans when he translated the conversation +between these two veterans from life's battles—the one defeated, +wounded, near his death; the other humble, yet triumphant, victorious, +and soon to be summoned to the court of his King for a more than +abundant reward. +</P> + +<P> +"I am not fit to be the father of a boy like Nono," said Pietro one +day—"not fit to be his father." +</P> + +<P> +Pietro's old superstitious confidence in the religion of his country +had passed into a dull unbelief in all that was sacred. He had a +disease which Pelle found he could not reach. +</P> + +<P> +Then the colonel came and sat day by day in Pietro's room, and talked +to the poor Italian out of the fulness of his heart as he had never +talked to a human being before. There, in that small room, the colonel +won a victory greater than the triumphs of war. There he won a soul +for the heavenly King! The colonel, by nature so self-controlled, so +reticent, was moved to warmth and tender tears as Pietro grasped his +hand and thanked him for opening the way for his soul to the real +knowledge of God and holiness and peace. +</P> + +<P> +It was the first human being that the colonel had led in the way of +life, and Pietro was a precious treasure to him. +</P> + +<P> +Alma insisted upon being responsible for every expense that was +incurred for Pietro. She could do nothing more for him but remember +him in her prayers. The fair, slight girl, with the kindly look in her +dear blue eyes, seemed to him a thing quite apart from his life, +something he could not understand—that could not understand him. +</P> + +<P> +The time would come when Alma, now walking tremblingly herself in the +way of life, would be strong to help the weak and struggling, and lead +the wanderers gently home. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE OPENED DOOR. +</H3> + +<P> +The sweet bells of Aneholm Church were cheerily ringing. The sunshine +shed a quiet gladness over the smooth meadows, and even the moist, dark +evergreens of the distant woods glittered in the clear light. +</P> + +<P> +Within the church, garlands of birch leaves hung here and there on the +white walls and festooned the carved pulpit. Green wreaths crowned the +golden angels that supported, each with one lifted hand, the sculptured +altar-piece; while in the other, outstretched, they loosely held wild +flowers, as if ready to strew them in the paths of the pilgrims bound +heavenward. The still marble figures that had so long sat watchers +beside the effigies on the great monuments of the honoured dead wore +now on their brows blue circlets of corn-flowers, as if to tell for +to-day of glad resurrection rather than of the dark tomb. +</P> + +<P> +Tiny floral processions seemed passing in long lines along the tops of +the simple wooden seats for the congregation; for the sconces that had +held the lights for many a service on a winter morning or evening were +now filled with bouquets, placed there by the children who had the day +before been confirmed in the quiet sanctuary. The flowers, like the +children, were from the rich man's garden or from the woods and +meadows—here choice roses or glowing verbenas, there buttercups and +daisies. +</P> + +<P> +To-day the newly confirmed, "the children of the Lord's Supper," were +to "come forward" for the first time to the holy communion. +</P> + +<P> +The colonel generally walked to church with Alma and Frans, but this +morning the carriage had been ordered for him. A friend was to be with +him who was not strong enough to go on foot to the service. The +doctor, who was carefully watching over Pietro, had said that it would +not be at all dangerous for him to have his desire gratified—to take +the holy communion at the sacred altar. His days were plainly +numbered; it but remained to make his decline as full as possible of +joy and peace. +</P> + +<P> +The poor old fellow was pleased to wear his fresh homely suit and the +broad-brimmed hat that reminded him so pleasantly of home. The +congregation were already assembled when the two entered—Pietro +leaning heavily on the arm of the colonel, who gently led him to the +corner of the pew that had been comfortably prepared for him. +</P> + +<P> +The preliminary service over, the children recently confirmed went +forward first to the communion, circling the chancel in solemn +stillness, while the prayers of the congregation went up for the young +disciples. Then came the elders to the holy table. Old Pelle and +Pietro knelt side by side, the latter staying himself by one hand on +the colonel's shoulder, as if he had been a brother. The Italian knew +nothing of the pride and stiffness of the early days of his friend. +The colonel was but to him the loving guide who had led him to the +heavenly kingdom. Their paths were soon to separate. Pietro was to be +summoned upward; the colonel was to linger and labour, and perhaps +suffer before he entered into rest. +</P> + +<P> +The future lay uncertain before the dwellers at Ekero and the golden +house, but they had nought to fear. They had opened the guest-chamber +of their hearts to the heavenly Visitant, and they would henceforward +be blessed by his continual presence. +</P> + +<P> +And Nono, who had so early admitted the sacred Friend? He did not see +his father on earth, but he had the glad hope of meeting him in the +true home above. Nono was to "make beautiful things," and had the +beautiful life of all who follow Him who is the spring and source of +beauty and purity and love. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and +open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he +with me." +</P> + +<P> +"If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, +and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." +</P> + +<P> +"Be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come +in." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +THE END. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +The 'Royal' Libraries +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Of Reward Books in Uniform Bindings. +</H3> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Containing a Selection of Messrs. Nelson and Sons' Popular Copyright +Tales and Standard Books by the best Authors. +<BR><BR> +T. NELSON AND SONS, London, Edinburgh, and New York. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The 'Royal' Two Shilling Library. +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Chronicles of the Schönberg-Cotta Family. By Mrs. RUNDLE CHARLES. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Spanish Brothers. By DEBORAH ALCOCK. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Leonie; or, Light out of Darkness. By ANNIE LUCAS. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Isabel's Secret; or, A Sister's Love. By the Author of "The Story of a +Happy Little Girl." +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Ivanhoe. By Sir WALTER SCOTT. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Triple Alliance. By HAROLD AVERY. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Uncharted Island. By SKELTON KUPPORD. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +In Palace and Faubourg. By C. J. G. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Maud Melville's Marriage. By EVELYN EVERETT-GREEN. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Kenilworth. By Sir WALTER SCOTT. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The 'Royal' Eighteenpenny Library. +</H3> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Young Rajah. By W. H. G. KINGSTON. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Boris the Bear-Hunter. By FRED. WHISHAW. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Afar in the Forest. By W. H. G. KINGSTON. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +On Angels' Wings. By Hon. Mrs. GREENE. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +For the Queen's Sake. By E. EVERETT-GREEN. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Winning the Victory. By E. EVERETT-GREEN. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +One Summer by the Sea. By J. M. CALLWELL. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Esther's Charge. By EVELYN EVERETT-GREEN. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Dulcie's Little Brother. By E. EVERETT-GREEN. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Salome. By Mrs. EMMA MARSHALL. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The 'Royal' Shilling Library. +</H3> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Coral Island. By R. M. BALLANTYNE. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Gorilla Hunters. By R. M. BALLANTYNE. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Ungava. By R. M. BALLANTYNE. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Grey House on the Hill; or, Trust in God and Do the Right. By the +Hon. Mrs. GREENE. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Sir Aylmer's Heir. By EVELYN EVERETT-GREEN. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +At the Black Rocks. By EDWARD A. RAND. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Soldiers of the Queen. By HAROLD AVERY. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Golden House. By the Author of "The Swedish Twins." +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Robber Baron of Bedford Castle. By A. J. FOSTER and E. E. CUTHELL. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Mark Marksen's Secret. By JESSIE ARMSTRONG. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Tales of Adventure. +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H4> +THREE BOOKS BY ELIZA F. POLLARD. +</H4> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +A Daughter of France. A Tale of the Early Settlement of Acadia. With +Six Illustrations by W. RAINEY, R.I. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +An interesting story of the adventures of Charles de la Tour and his +companions in Acadia. Jacqueline, De la Tour's wife, is a noble +character. Her heroic defence of the fort in her husband's absence, +and the base trick by which her charge way betrayed, are recounted in +chapters of compelling interest. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Last of the Cliffords. Illustrated by WAL PAGET. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +My Lady Marcia. A Story of the French Revolution. With Five +Illustrations by WAL PAGET. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +In Savage Africa; or, The Adventures of Frank Baldwin from the Gold +Coast to Zanzibar. By VERNEY LOVETT CAMERON, C.B., D.C.L., Commander +Royal Navy; Author of "Jack Hooper," etc. With Thirty-two +Illustrations. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"From the deft and prolific pen of Commander Lovett Cameron.... In the +course of a stirring narrative, of the kind in which boys most delight, +he succeeds in conveying much real knowledge about Africa, its +features, and its peoples."—Scotsman. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Jack Hooper. His Adventures at Sea and in South Africa. By VERNEY +LOVETT CAMERON, C.B., D.C.L. With Twenty-three Full-page Illustrations. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Every Inch a Sailor. By GORDON STABLES, M.D., R.N., Author of "As We +Sweep through the Deep," etc. Illus. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Between the reader, ourselves, and the binnacle, there isn't a living +writer—unless it be Clark Russell, and he appeals more to the +adult—who can hold a candle, or shall we say a starboard light, to +Gordon Stables as a narrator of sea stories for boys. This one is +worthy of the high traditions of the author."—Literary World. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Held to Ransom. A Story of Spanish Brigands. By F. B. FORESTER, +Author of "The Spanish Cousin," "A Settler's Story," etc. Illustrated +by ARCHIBALD WEBB. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Jack Ralston. A Tale of Life in the Far North-East of Canada. By +HAMPDEN BURNHAM, M.A., Author of "Canadians in the Imperial Service." +With Coloured Illustrations by WALTER GRIEVE. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Kilgorman. A Story of Ireland in 1798. By TALBOT BAINES REED, Author +of "The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's," etc. Illustrated by JOHN +WILLIAMSON. With Portrait, and an "In Memoriam" Sketch of the Author +by JOHN SIME. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +With Pack and Rifle in the Far South-West. Adventures in New Mexico, +Arizona, and Central America. By ACHILLES DAUNT, Author of "Frank +Redcliffe," "The Three Trappers," etc. With Thirty Illustrations. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +"Red Rose" Library of Choice Books. +</H3> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +A carefully-selected List of Copyright Works. Specially suitable for +Gift-book, Lending Library, and P.S.A. Purposes. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Aiming Higher; or, Perseverance and Faithfulness Triumphant. By the +Rev. T. P. WILSON, M.A. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Better Way. A Tale of Temperance Toil. By WILLIAM J. LACEY. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +By Uphill Paths; or, Waiting and Winning. By E. VAN SOMMER. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Chris Willoughby; or, Against the Current. By FLORENCE E. BURCH. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Crooked Places. A Family Chronicle. By EDWARD GARRETT. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Dorothy Arden. A Story of England and France Two Hundred Years Ago. +By J. M. CALLWELL. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Edith Raymond, and the Story of Huldah Brent's Will. A Tale. By S. S. +ROBBINS. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Fighting the Good Fight; or, The Successful Influence of Well-Doing. +By E. EVERETT-GREEN. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Frank Oldfield; or, Lost and Found. By the Rev. T. P. WILSON, M.A. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Golden Woof. A Story of Two Girls' Lives. By Mrs. I. SITWELL. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Lionel Franklin's Victory. By E. VAN SOMMER. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Little Miss Wardlaw. The Story of an Unselfish Life. By L. M. GRAY. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Lost Ring. A Romance of Scottish History in the Days of King James +and Andrew Melville. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Molly's Heroine. By "FLEUR DE LYS." +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Naresborough Victory. By the Rev. T. KEYWORTH. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Nellie O'Neil; or, Our Summer Time. By AGNES C. MAITLAND. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +No Cross no Crown. A Tale of the Scottish Reformation. By the Author +of "The Spanish Brothers." +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Owen's Hobby; or, Strength and Weakness. A Tale. By ELMER BURLEIGH. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Pincherton Farm. By E. A. B. D. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Premiums Paid to Experience. Incidents in my Business Life. By EDWARD +GARRETT. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Right at Last; or, Family Fortunes. A Tale. By EDWARD GARRETT, Author +of "Occupations of a Retired Life." +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Stepping Heavenward. A Tale of Home Life. By Mrs. PRENTISS. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The "Coronet" Series. +</H3> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Suitable for Sunday School and Presentation Purposes. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Almost a Hero; or, School Days at Ashcombe. By ROBERT RICHARDSON. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Anna Lee. The Maiden—the Wife—the Mother. By T. S. ARTHUR. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Aunt Sally. By CONSTANCE MILMAN. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Esther Reid. By PANSY. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Flower of the Family. A Tale of Domestic Life. By Mrs. PRENTISS. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Gladys or Gwenyth? The Story of a Mistake. By E. EVERETT-GREEN. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Hermit of Livry. A Story of the Sixteenth Century at the Dawn of +the Reformation. By M. R. H. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Mystery of Alton Grange. By E. EVERETT-GREEN. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +A New Graft on the Family Tree. By PANSY. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Not Thrown Away, but Given; or, The Story of Marion's Hero. By Mrs. F. +S. REANEY, Author of "Our Daughters," etc. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Out in the World. By PANSY. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Rose and Thorn. A Story for the Young. By KATHARINE LEE BATES. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Shenac. The Story of a Highland Family in Canada. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Through the Gates. By ANNIE TUCKER. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Workers Together; or, An Endless Chain. By PANSY. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Favourite Books for the Nursery. +</H3> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Favourite Bible Stories for the Young. FIRST SERIES. +<I>Containing</I>:—The Story of Joseph—The Story of Moses—The Story of +Ruth—The Story of David—The Story of Daniel—The Life of Our Lord. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Favourite Bible Stories for the Young. SECOND SERIES. +<I>Containing</I>:—Story of the Flood—Rebekah at the Well—Jacob's +Dream—Stories from the Life of Moses—Elijah and Elisha—Samuel—David +and Jonathan, etc. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Favourite Book of Beasts, Birds, and Fishes. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Favourite Stories about Animals. Intended to Show the Reasoning Powers +which they Possess. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Favourite Rhymes for the Nursery. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Favourite Book of Fables. <I>Containing</I>:—The Cock and the +Jewel—The Wolf and the Lamb—The Fox and the Lion—Hercules and the +Carter—The Fox and the Goat—The Stag in the Ox-stall—The Vain +Jackdaw, etc. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Favourite Stories for the Nursery. <I>Containing</I>:—Ali Baba and the +Forty Thieves—Hop o' my Thumb, and the Seven League Boots—Children in +the Wood—Tom Thumb—Little Red Riding Hood, etc. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Favourite Tales for the Nursery. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Riddles and Rhymes. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +T. NELSON AND SONS, London, Edinburgh, and New York. +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Golden House, by Mrs. Woods Baker + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN HOUSE *** + +***** This file should be named 28349-h.htm or 28349-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/3/4/28349/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Golden House + +Author: Mrs. Woods Baker + +Release Date: March 17, 2009 [EBook #28349] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN HOUSE *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: Nono and the princess] + + + + +[Illustration: Vignette] + + + + +THE GOLDEN HOUSE + +BY MRS. WOODS BAKER + + + + + + +LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK + +THOMAS NELSON AND SONS + +1903 + + + + +_CONTENTS_ + + + I. Black Eyes and Blue + II. Karin's Flock + III. Aneholm Church + IV. No Secrets + V. An Artist + VI. The Boys + VII. A Young Teacher + VIII. In Alma's Room. + IX. Karin's Fete + X. The Little Cottage + XI. The Slide + XII. A Pedestrian Trip + XIII. The Princess + XIV. Where? + XV. The Birthday Gift + XVI. Spectacles + XVII. Questionings + XVIII. Nono's Plans, and Plans for Nono + XIX. Pietro + XX. The Opened Door + + + + +_LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS._ + + +Nono and the princess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece. + +Nono's gift to Alma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vignette. + +"He thrust out both hands as if throwing gifts in lavish profusion" + +The baptismal service + +"The first verse of a hymn was dictated to him" + +The model house + +Frans admonished + +"She had seen the hand-organ man from the window" + + + + +THE GOLDEN HOUSE. + + +CHAPTER I. + +BLACK EYES AND BLUE. + +A dreary little group was trudging along a Swedish highroad one bright +October morning. It was a union between north and south, and like many +other unions, not altogether founded on love. The bear, the prominent +member of the party, was a Swede, and a Swede in a very bad humour. +The iron ring in his torn nose, and the stout stick in the hand of one +of his Italian masters, showed very plainly that he needed stern +discipline. Now he dragged at the strong rope attached to the iron +ring, and held back, moving his clumsy legs as if his machinery were +out of order, or at least as if goodwill were lacking to give it a fair +start. + +The broad hats of the two men were gloomily slouched over their eyes; +for they were thoroughly chilled, having passed the night in the open +air for want of shelter. The woman, brown, thin, and bare-headed, +coughed, and pressed her hand to her breast, where a stiff bundle was +hidden under her shawl. + +They rounded a little turn in the road, hitherto shut in by high +spruces, and came suddenly in sight of a cottage of yellow pine, that +glowed cheerfully against its dark background of evergreens. + +"We stop at the golden house," said the older of the men, the bearer of +the organ, and evidently the leader as well as the musician of the +party. + +The younger Italian laughed a scornful laugh as he said in his own +language, "Only poor people live there." + +"We stop at the golden house!" commanded his companion, adding, "It +brings good luck to play for the poor." + +The cottage had its gable end to the road, while its broadside was +turned towards the southern sunshine, the well-kept vegetable-garden +and the pretty flower-beds in front of the windows. + +The gate was open, and the Italians came in stealthily--an art they had +learned to perfection. One little turn of the hand-organ and the bear +rose to his hind legs. The open door of the cottage was suddenly +filled. Round-faced, rosy, fair-haired, and eager were they +all--father and mother and six boys. They had evidently been disturbed +at a meal, for in their hands they held great pieces of hard brown +bread, in various stages of consumption. + +Eyes and mouths opened wide as the performance went on, and Bruin had +every reason to be satisfied with his share of the praise bestowed on +the entertainment, as well as on his personal appearance. He was a +young bear, and his brown coat looked as soft as plush, and it was no +wonder that two-year-old Sven whispered to his mother, "Me want to kiss +the pretty bear!" + +Sven judged Bruin by his clothing, not by his wicked little eyes or his +ugly mouth, which was by no means kissable. + +The performance over, bread and milk were liberally passed round to the +strangers, the bear having more than his fair portion. + +"Come in and sit a bit," said the tidy mother to the dark young woman. + +The answer was a pointing to the ear and a shaking of the head, which +said plainly, "I don't understand Swedish." + +The kindly beckoning that followed could not be mistaken, and the +Italian woman went into the cottage, glad to sit down in the one room +of which the interior consisted. One room it was, but large, and airy +too; for it not only stretched from outer wall to outer wall, but from +the floor to the high slanting roof. The rafters that crossed it here +and there were hung with homely stores--bags of beans and pease, and +slender poles strung with flat cakes of hard bread, far out of the +reach of the children. + +The Italian opened her shawl and took out a little brown baby, wrapped +up as stiff as a stick. It was evidently hungry enough, and not at all +satisfied when it was again tucked away under the shawl. + +Half by single words and half by signs the two mothers managed to talk +together. Swedish Karin soon knew that Francesca was ill, and was +going home to Italy as soon as her husband had money enough to pay +their passage. There was a wild look in the dark woman's eyes and a +fierceness in her gestures that made Karin almost afraid of her. When +the stranger had put into her pocket a bottle of milk that had been +given her, and a big cake of bread, she got up suddenly to go. + +It was evident there was to be another performance--a kind of +expression of thanks for the hospitality received. The bear stood up +and shook paws with the men, we may say; for the brown hands of the +Italians had a strange kind of an animal look about them. The clumsy +creature walked hither and thither, and then towered proudly behind his +two masters, looking down on their heads as if it gave him satisfaction +to prove that he was their superior in size at least. + +Francesca now took out her baby, and began to toss it high in the air, +catching it as it fell, and dancing meanwhile as if in delight. + +Perhaps the bear took offence that the attention of all beholders was +turned from himself. He made one stride towards the descending baby, +and opened and shut his great mouth with a wicked snap close to the +child. + +The Italian mother laughed a loud, wild laugh, and turned her back to +the bear, who put his two strong paws on her shoulder. A heavy blow +from the stout stick of the younger Italian brought him down on all +fours in a state of discontented submission. + +Karin had swept her children inside the wide door of the cottage, and +then Francesca was hurried in too with her baby. + +The leader of the party pointed after her, and then to his own head, +moving his thin hands first rapidly backwards and forwards, and +afterwards round and round, so describing the confusion in the poor +woman's brain as well as if he had said, "She is as crazy as a loon." + +Karin's eyes grew large with horror. She drew her husband round the +corner of the house and said, "Jan, I can't see that crazy woman go off +with the baby. Let me keep it!" + +"We have mouths enough to feed already," said the husband, and the +sturdy giant looked down, not unkindly, into the appealing eyes. His +face softened as he saw the little black bow at her throat, her only +week-day sign of mourning for her own little baby, so lately laid in +the grave. + +"He will cost us almost nothing for a long time," she said, "and he can +wear my little Gustaf's clothes. Perhaps God has let our little boy up +in heaven send this baby to me to take his place." + +"You are a good woman, Karin, and you ought to have your way," said the +husband; and she knew she had his consent. + +Francesca looked back with approval on the cheerful room as she came +out, then stooped to pick a bit of mignonnette that grew by the steps. + +Karin stretched out her hands, took the little brown baby in her arms, +pointed to the black bow at her throat, and quickly made a sign of +laying a baby low in a grave. Then she pressed the little stranger +close, close to her heart, and moved as if she would go into the +cottage with him. + +A light gleamed in Francesca's eyes, and a tear actually glittered on +her husband's black eyelashes. + +"I keep the child," said Karin distinctly, turning to the man. + +He bowed his head solemnly, and said, "I leave him." Then he pointed +suddenly up to the sky, stretching his arm to its full length; then he +thrust out both hands freely towards her again and again, as if +throwing gifts in lavish profusion. + +[Illustration: "He thrust out both hands, as if throwing gifts in +lavish profusion."] + +Karin understood his "God will reward you abundantly" as well as if it +had been spoken in words. She kissed the little brown baby in reply, +and the father knew that crazy Francesca's child had found a mother's +love. + +The men bowed and waved their hands, and the bear followed them +lumberingly out through the gate. Francesca lingered a moment, then +caught up a stick from within the enclosure, where Jan had been lately +chopping. She wrapped it hastily in her shawl, and went off with a +long, wild laugh. + +The Swedes watched the party make their way along the road, until they +came to a turn that was to hide them from sight. There the Italians +swung their broad hats, and Francesca threw the stick high in the air +and caught it in her hands, as a parting token. + +Karin pressed the little stranger to her mother's heart, and thanked +God that he was left to her care. + +So the little Italian came to the golden house--the black eyes among +the blue. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +KARIN'S FLOCK. + +There was a family group in the big room at the golden house. The +mother sat in the centre, with the brown baby on her knee. The heads +of the six fair-haired children were bent down over the new treasure +like a cluster of rough-hewn angels in the Bethlehem scene, as carved +out by some reverent artist of old. With a puzzled, half-pleased +glance the stalwart father looked down upon them all, like a benignant +giant. + +"Is he really our own little baby now?" said one of the children. + +"What shall we call him?" asked another. + +"We'll name him, of course, after the bear," said the oldest boy, who +liked to take the lead in the family. "I heard the man call him +Pionono, and he said the bear knew his name." + +"We won't call him after that horrid bear!" exclaimed Karin. + +"Uncle Bjoern is as nice as anybody, and his name is just 'bear,'" urged +one of the boys. + +"Don't contrary your mother," said Jan decidedly. "Pionono is too long +a name. We'll call him Nono, and that's a nice name, to my thinking." + +"A nice, pretty little name," said the mother, "and I like it." + +And so the matter was settled. The little brown baby was to be called +after a pope and bear, in Protestant Sweden. Nono (the ninth) suited +him better than any one around him suspected. The tiny Italian was +really the ninth baby that had come to the golden house. Karin had now +six children. She had laid her firstborn in the grave long ago, and +lately her little Gustaf had been placed beside him in the churchyard. + +Classification simplified matters in Karin's family, as elsewhere. The +children were divided by common consent into three pairs, known as the +boys, the twins, and the little boys. For each division the laws and +privileges were fixed and unalterable. "The boys," Erik and Oke, were +the oldest pair. Erik was at present a smaller edition of his father, +with a fair promise of a full development in the same direction. Now, +at twelve years of age, he was almost as tall as his mother, and could +have mastered her at any time in a fair fight. Oke, a year younger, +was pale, and slight, and stooping, with a thin, straight nose, quite +out of keeping with the large, strongly-marked features of the rest of +the children. As for "the twins," it was difficult to think of them as +two boys. They were so much alike that their mother could hardly tell +them apart. Indeed, she had a vague idea that she might have changed +them without knowing it many times since they were baptized. How could +she be sure that the one she called Adam was not Enos, and Enos the +true Adam? Of two things she was certain--that she loved them both as +well as a mother ever loved a pair of twins, and that they were worthy +of anybody's unlimited affection. She was proud of them, too. Were +they not known the country round as Jan Persson's splendid twins, and +the fattest boys in the parish? As for "the little boys," they were +much like the Irishman's "little pig who jumped about so among the +others he never could count him." "The little boys" were always to be +found in unexpected and exceptionable places, to the great risk of life +and limb, and the great astonishment of the beholders. To try to ride +on a strange bull-dog or kiss a bear was quite a natural exploit for +them, for they feared neither man nor beast. + +As for Karin, she was not a worrying woman, and took the care of her +many children cheerily. She could but do her best, and leave the rest +to God and the holy angels. Those precious protectors had lately +seemed very near to her, since baby Gustaf had gone to live among them. +That all would go right with Nono she did not doubt. When she laid him +down for the night, she clasped his tiny brown hands, and prayed not +only for him, but for his poor mother, wherever she might be, and left +her to the care of the merciful Friend who could give to wild lunatics +full soundness of mind. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ANEHOLM CHURCH. + +Sunday had come. Along the public road, where the Italians and the +bear had lately passed, rolled a heavy family carriage, drawn by two +spirited horses. The gray-haired coachman had them well in hand, and +by no means needed the advice or the assistance of the fat little boy +perched at his side, though both were freely proffered. The child was +dressed in deep mourning, but his clothes alone gave any sign of +sorrow. His face gleamed with delight as he was borne along between +green fields, or played bo-peep with the distant cottages, through a +solemn line of spruces or a glad cluster of young birches. + +On the comfortable back seat of the carriage was an elderly gentleman, +tall, thin, and stooped, with eyes that saw nothing of earth or sky, as +his thoughts were in the far past, or in the clouds of the sorrowful +present. By his side, close pressed to him, with her small +black-gloved hand laid on his knee, sat a little nine-year-old girl, +her sad-coloured suit in strange contrast with the flood of golden hair +that streamed from under her hat, and fell in shining waves down to her +slight waist. The fair young face was very serious, and the mild blue +eyes were full of loving light, as she now and then peeped cautiously +at her father. He did not notice the child, and she made no effort to +attract his attention. + +"Papa! papa! what's that? what's that?" suddenly cried out the little +boy. "What's that that's so like the gingerbread baby Marie made me +yesterday? Just such a skirt, and little short arms!" + +The father's attention was caught, and he turned his eyes in the +direction pointed out by the child's eager finger. + +The sweet sound of a bell came from the strange brown wooden structure, +an old-time belfry, set not on a roof or a tower, but down on the +ground. Slanting out wide at the bottom, to have a firm footing, it +did look like a rag-dolly standing on her skirts, or a gingerbread +baby, as the young stranger had said. + +A stranger truly in the land of his fathers was fat little Frans. +Alma, his sister, had often reproached him with the facts that he had +never seen his own country and could hardly speak his own language. +Born in Italy, he had now come to Sweden for the first time, with the +funeral train which bore the lifeless image of his mother to a +resting-place in her much-loved northern home. + +"Is that the church, papa?" Alma ventured to ask, seeing her father +partially roused from his reverie. + +The barn-like building was without any attempt at adornment. There was +no tower. The black roof rose high, very high and steep from the +thick, low white walls, that were pierced by a line of small rounded +windows. + +"That is Aneholm Church," the father said, half reprovingly. "There +your maternal ancestors are buried, and there their escutcheons stand +till this day. I need not tell you who is now laid in that churchyard." + +He turned his face from the loving eyes of the child, and she was +silent. + +A few more free movements of the swift horses, and the carriage stopped +before a white-arched gateway. A wall of high old lindens shut in the +churchyard from the world without, if world the green pastures, quiet +groves, and low cottages could be called. It was but a small +enclosure, and thick set with old monuments and humbler memorials, open +books of iron on slender supports, their inscriptions dimmed by the +rust of time, small stones set up by loving peasant hands, and one +fresh grave covered with evergreen branches. Alma understood that on +that grave she must place the wreath of white flowers that had lain in +her lap, and there her father would lay the one beautiful fair lily he +held in his hand. + +This tribute of love was paid in mournful silence, and then the father +and the children passed into the simple old sanctuary. + +The church was even more peculiar within than without. It was white +everywhere--walls, ceiling, and the plain massive pillars of strong +masonry on which rested the low round arches. It looked more like a +crypt under some great building than if it were itself the temple. The +small windows, crossed by iron gratings, added to the prison-like +effect of the whole. It was but a prison for the air of the latest +summer days, shut in there to greet the worshippers, instead of the +chill that might have been expected. + +Warm was the atmosphere, and warm the colouring of the heraldic devices +telling in armorial language what noble families had there treasured +their dead. The altar, without chancel-rail, stood on a +crimson-covered platform. On each side of it, at a respectful +distance, were two stately monuments, on which two marble heroes were +resting, one in full armour, and the other in elaborate court-dress. +Alma could see that there were many names on the largest of these +monuments, and her eyes filled with tears as she saw her mother's dear +name, freshly cut below the list of her honoured ancestors. + +The father did not look at the monument, or round the church at all. +With eyes cast down, he entered a long wide pew, with a heraldic device +on the light arch above the door. Prudently first placing little Frans +at the end of the bare bench, he took his place, with Alma on the other +side of him. + +The church was almost empty. A few old bald-headed peasants were +scattered here and there, and on the organ-loft stairs clattered the +thick shoes of the school children, who were to assist in the singing. + +The father bowed his head too long for the opening prayer. Alma +understood that he had forgotten himself in his own sad thoughts. Her +little slender hand sought his, that hung at his side, and her fragile +figure crowded protectively towards him. + +Meanwhile Frans had produced two bonbons, wrapped in mourning-paper, +and with hour-glasses and skeletons gloomily pictured upon them. He +was engaged in counting the ribs of the skeletons, to make sure that +the number was the same on both, when Alma caught sight of him. The +gentle, loving look in her face changed suddenly to one of sour +reproof. She motioned disapprovingly to Frans, and vainly tried to get +at him behind the rigid figure of her father. Before her very eyes, +and in smiling defiance, the boy opened the black paper and devoured +the sweets within, with evident relish, bodily and spiritual. + +At this moment there was a stir in the vestibule and in the sacristy +adjoining, and then a murmur of low, hushed voices, and for a moment +the tramping of many little feet. + +Alma looked around her, and now noticed on the platform for the altar a +small white-covered table, and upon it a little homely bowl and a +folded napkin. Beside the table a gray-haired old clergyman had taken +his place. In one hand he held officially a corner of his open white +handkerchief, while in the other was a thin black book. + +There was a slight shuffling first, and then a tall man, with +apparently a very stout woman at his side, came up the aisle and stood +in front of the clergyman. + +"It cannot be a wedding," thought Alma, accustomed to the splendid +fonts of the churches of great cities; she could not suppose that +simple household bowl was for a baptism. The broken, disabled stone +font she did not notice, as it leaned helplessly against the side wall +of the building. + +The clergyman opened his book and looked about him, doubtfully turned +over the leaves, and then began the service "for the baptism of a +foundling," as the most appropriate for the present peculiar +circumstances that the time-honoured ritual afforded. + +At that moment Karin threw open her shawl, and showed the little brown +baby asleep in her arms. Alma's attention was fixed, and Frans was all +observation, if not attention. + +[Illustration: The baptismal service.] + +"Beloved Christians," began the pastor; he paused, glanced at the +scattered worshippers, and then went on, "our Lord Jesus Christ has +said, 'Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter +into the kingdom of God.' We do not know whether this child has been +baptized or no, since, against the command of the heavenly Father, and +even the very laws and feelings of nature, he has been forsaken by his +own father and mother." + +Here Karin gave involuntarily a little dissenting movement as she +thought of the half-crazy mother and the sorrowful father, and made the +mental comment that they had done the best they could under the +circumstances. The pastor paused (perhaps doubting himself the +appropriateness of the statement), and then read distinctly,-- + +"Therefore we will carry out what Christian love demands of us, and +through baptism confide the child to God, our Saviour Jesus Christ, +praying most heartily that he will graciously receive it, and grant it +the power of his Spirit unto faith, forgiveness of sins, and true +godliness, that it, as a faithful member of his church, may be a +partaker of all the blessedness that Jesus has won for us and +Christianity promises." + +The service then proceeded as usual, and the little Nono was baptized +in God's holy name. + +Jan and Karin were duly exhorted that they should see that the child +should grow up in virtue and the fear of the Lord; which promises and +resolutions the honest pair solemnly determined, with God's help, to +sacredly keep and fulfil. + +Nono was borne down the aisle, having acquitted himself as well as +could be expected on this important occasion. The eager prisoners in +the pew by the door now filed out, six in number, to form little Nono's +baptismal procession. Sven, insisting upon kissing the baby then and +there, was prudently allowed to do so, to prevent possibly an +exhibition of wilfulness that would have been a public scandal. This +proceeding well over, Nono and his foster-brothers went back to the +golden house, in which he now had a right to a footing, and the +blessing of a home in a Christian family. + +Alma could never remember anything of the service or the sermon on that +day. Her attention had been fully absorbed in the baptism of the wee +brown baby whose parents had deserted him, and in whom the "beloved +Christians" of the parish had been called on to take so solemn an +interest. + +Before leaving the church, Alma's father gave one long, sorrowful +glance at the new name on the old monument. Beside it the old +clergyman had taken them all by the hand, and had said some +low-murmured words of which the little girl could not catch the meaning. + +"Papa," Alma ventured to say when they were fairly seated in the +carriage, "did not the pastor mean you and me, too, when he said +'beloved Christians'? We were there, and only a few other people, and +he must have meant us too. We are Christians, of course, are we not?" + +He turned his large sorrowful eyes towards her, and was silent. _She_ +might be a Christian. The Saviour had said that children were of the +kingdom of heaven. But she was no longer a very little child, but +uncommonly womanly for her age. He suddenly remembered some +unchristian peculiarities that were certainly growing upon her. She +must be looked after, and placed where she would be under the right +kind of influence. Her small hand was now laid caressingly on his +knee, and he placed his own over it. + +Alma was not astonished at her father not answering her. She was +accustomed to see him sunk in moody silence. Happily she could not +read the thoughts that her question had suggested. That he was not +truly one of the "beloved Christians" the father secretly acknowledged +to himself. He had not, he was sure, the firm faith in God and the +loving trust in man that belong to the children of the kingdom of +heaven. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +NO SECRETS. + +The children at the golden house had been regaled with milk and white +biscuits in honour of Nono's baptism, and were enjoying the treat in +the grove behind the cottage. + +Nono lay on Karin's knee, and she was looking fondly at him, while Jan +stood silently beside her. + +"I am a kind of a mother to him now, a real god-mother," she said. "I +don't mean to tell him that he is not quite my own child. I mean to +love him just like the others, and he shall never feel like a stranger +here." + +"Now you are quite wrong, Karin," said Jan, with a very serious look in +his face. "He isn't your own child, and you can't make him so by +hiding the truth from him. Tell him from the very first how it was. +He won't love you the less because he was a stranger and you took him +in. It would be a poor way to bring him up so that he will 'grow in +virtue and the fear of the Lord,' as we promised this morning, to begin +by telling him what wasn't true right straight along. What would he +think of you when he found out in the end that you had been deceiving +him ever since he could remember? And the other children, too; they +know all about it. Could you make them promise to pretend, like you, +that Nono was their own brother? No good ever comes of going from the +truth. That's my notion!" + +Jan stood up very straight as he finished, and sitting as Karin was, he +seemed to her in every way high above her. + +"You are right, Jan," she answered sorrowfully. "I suppose I must do +as you say. I did so want him to be really my own, just like my little +Gustaf." + +"_Your_ little Gustaf, _our_ little Gustaf, is in a good place, and I +hope Nono will be there too sometime," said Jan. + +"Not Nono in heaven yet!" said Karin, pressing the dark baby to her +breast. "I cannot spare him, and I don't believe God will take him." + +"Now you are foolish, Karin. That was not what I meant," said Jan +tenderly. "You bring him up right, and he will come sometime where +Gustaf is, and that's what we ought to want most for him." Jan paused +a moment, and then went on: "Somehow those words of the baptism took +hold of me to-day as they never did before, not even when my owny tony +children were baptized. I mean to be the right kind of a godfather to +him if I can." + +Jan kept his resolution. He could sometimes be rough and hasty with +his own boys when he was tired or particularly worried; towards Nono he +was always kind, and just, and wise. Somehow there had entered into +his honest heart the meaning of the words, "I was a stranger, and ye +took me in." What was done for Nono was, in a way, done for the Master. + +Karin did not reason much about her feelings for the black-eyed boy who +was growing up in the cottage. She gave him a mother's love in full +abundance. If little Nono had no sunny Italian skies above him, he had +the sunshine of a happy home, and real affection in the golden house. + +From the very first Nono heard the truth as to how he came to be living +in the cold north. Before he could speak, the story of the bear and +the Italians had been again and again told in his presence. Of course, +every one who saw the black-eyed, brown-skinned child inquired how he +came among the frowzy white heads of his foster-brothers. The picture +of the whole scene grew by degrees so perfect in Nono's mind, that he +really believed he had been a witness of as well as a prominent +partaker in the performance. It was only by severe reproof and +reproach on the part of the other children that he was made to +understand that he had been only a baby "so long" (the Swedish boys +held their hands very near together on such occasions), while they had +had the honour of seeing the very whole, and remembered it as perfectly +as if it had happened yesterday, as probably some of them did. + +So Nono had to take a humble place as a mere listener when the +oft-repeated story was told, with every particular carefully preserved +among the many eye-witnesses. + +"But I love him just as well as if he were my own," was Karin's +unfailing close to such conversations, with a caress for the little +Italian that sealed the truth of her assertion. + +Nono loved his foster-mother with the grateful affection of his warm +southern nature. Yet the very name Italy had for him a magical charm, +and the sound of a hand-organ, or the sight of a dark-faced man with a +broad-brimmed hat, made him thrill with a half joy that his own kith +and kin were coming, and a half fear that he was to be taken away from +the pleasant cottage and all the love that surrounded him. Bears had a +perfect fascination for him, but all the specimens he saw were rough +and ragged. No bear, the family were all sure, had ever had such a +beautiful brown coat of fur as that Pionono that Sven had been so +anxious to kiss. + +Nono's favourite text in the Bible was the one that expressed the +youthful David's reliance on God when he went out to meet the insolent +Goliath: "The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and +out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from this Philistine." +The Philistine stood for any and all threatening dangers of soul and +body, and this passage cheered the little Italian through many a +childish trouble, and many an encounter with the big boys from the +village, who delighted to assail him in solitary places, and reproach +him with being an outlandish stranger, living on charity, and not as +much of a Swede as the ugly bear he was named after. + +All the warmer seemed to Nono the sheltering affection of Karin, +contrasted with these frequent attacks from without. His gratitude +expressed itself in an enthusiastic devotion to Karin, and a delight in +doing her the slightest service. + +"Nono sets a good example to the other boys," said Jan one day. "I +don't know, Karin, what he wouldn't be glad to do for you. Our own +little rascals get all they can out of 'mother,' and hardly take the +trouble to say 'Thank you.' As for thinking to help you, that always +falls on Nono." + +"Our boys are much towards me as we are to our heavenly Father, I +think. We seem to take it for granted he will give us what We need, +and that's all there is of it. At least that's the way I am, Jan." + +Karin liked to make an excuse for her children when she thought Jan was +a little hard upon them. + +"I won't forget that, Karin, when I'm put out, as I am sometimes with +the boys," answered Jan. "They are not a bad set, anyhow, to be so +many. I know I am not half as thankful as I ought to be: not in bed a +day since I can remember." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +AN ARTIST. + +Time slipped away rapidly at the golden house. There had been many +pleasant family scenes, both within and around the cottage, since Nono +had been so tenderly welcomed there, eight years before. + +It was a bright July morning. The bit of a rye-field on the other side +of the road stood in the summer sunshine in tempting perfection. The +harvesting had begun, in a slow though it might be a sure manner. A +tall, spare old man, his hat laid aside, and his few scattered gray +locks fluttering in the gentle breeze, was the only reaper. His shirt +sleeves rolled up above the elbows showed his meagre, bony arms. His +thin neck and breast were bare, as he suffered from heat from his +unwonted labour. The scythe moved slowly, and the old man stopped +often to draw a long breath. Near him stood a fair-haired, sturdy +little girl, who held up her apron full of corn flowers, as blue as the +eyes that looked so approvingly upon them. They were in the midst of a +chat in a moment of rest, when a figure, strange and interesting to +them both, came along the road with a light, free step. + +The new-comer was a tall young girl, with a white parasol in her hand, +though her wide-brimmed hat seemed enough to keep her fair face from +being browned by the glad sunshine. She stopped suddenly when she came +in front of the cottage, and fixed her eyes on the old man and the +child with an expression of astonished delight. "Charming! beautiful! +I must paint them," she said to herself. + +The stranger put down the camp-stool she had on her arm, and screwed +into its back her parasol with the long handle. She sat down at once +and opened her box, where paper and pallet and all manner of +conveniences for amateur painters were admirably arranged. "Please, +please stand still," she said; "just as you are. I want to paint you." + +"I have to stop often to rest; but I must work while I can. I don't +want to be idle if I am old. I can't do a real day's work; but I can +get something done if I am industrious," said the gray-haired labourer +hesitatingly. + +The child seemed to notice something sorrowful in the tone of her +companion's voice, and she came quickly to his aid, saying,-- + +"Uncle Pelle is the best man in the world. Mother says he'll never +teach us anything that isn't just right. He does a good bit of work, +father says, and he knows." + +The little girl was evidently accustomed to be listened to, and did not +stand in awe of this stranger or any other. + +"I shall pay you both if you hold still awhile and let me take your +picture; and that will be just as well for Uncle Pelle as cutting +grain, and lighter work, too. You can talk if you want to, but you +must not stir while I am making a real likeness of you." + +"As the young lady pleases," said the old man, with a look of +resignation. "I want to be useful." + +"Is that your uncle, child?" asked the young artist. "I thought, of +course, it was your grandfather." Then looking towards the old man she +added, "Do you live here?" and she nodded towards the golden house. + +"I don't live anywhere," said the old man sorrowfully. "The poorhouse +in Aneholm parish and the poorhouse in Tomtebacke, some way from here, +can't agree which should keep me, and now they are lawing about it. +I've had a fever, and I seem to be broke down. I don't belong anywhere +just now, but Karin there in the house says I'm a kind of relation of +hers, though it puzzles me to see how. She wants me to stay with them +till all is settled; and Jan, who mostly lets her have her way, tells +me he hasn't anything against it. So you see I like to do a turn of +work if I can, if it's only to show I'm thankful. Karin says she's +used to a big family, and it seems lonesome since her oldest son went +to America, and I must take his place. I don't live in the cottage. +There are enough of 'em there without me. They've fixed me up a place +alongside of Star--that's the cow." + +"It's a dear little room," said the child, "and we all like to be +there; but Uncle Pelle shuts the door sometimes, and won't let us in." + +"Old folks must have their quiet spells," said the old man +apologetically. + +"It isn't just to be quiet, you know, Uncle Pelle. Mother says Uncle +Pelle reads good books when he is alone, and makes good prayers, too; +and he's a blessing to the family," said the little girl, who seemed to +consider herself the friend and patron of her companion. + +"She's a bit spoiled. The only girl, you see. There were six boys +before, not counting Nono or the two boys that died." + +"Nono!" exclaimed the stranger. "That was the name of the little brown +baby I saw baptized in Aneholm church, eight years ago, when I was at +home before, just for a few days." + +"It is a queer name," said Uncle Pelle. "The pastor said it meant the +ninth, as the Italians talk; and so when this little girl came, he said +Karin and Jan might as well call her Decima, which was like the tenth, +in Swedish. And they did. They about make a fool of her in the +family; and I ain't much better. That's Nono behind you." + +A slight dark boy had been standing quietly watching the young stranger +while she skilfully handled her brushes. He now stepped forward, took +off the little straw hat of his own braiding, and bowed, without any +sheepish confusion. + +"Here's Nono!" said Decima, placing herself beside him, as if she had a +special right to exhibit him to the stranger. + +"And so you are Nono," said Alma. "I have always felt as if you +belonged in a way to me. Where did the people who live here find you?" + +"They didn't find me at all; they took me, and have brought me up as if +I was their own child," said Nono, his eyes sparkling. + +The story of the Italians and the bear was told by Nono, as usual, and +the scene most vividly described by word and gesture. Decima did not +pretend that she knew more than he did on this subject, and indeed he +was quite her oracle in all matters. She thought Nono a pink of +perfection; and well she might, for he had been her playmate and +guardian ever since she could remember. It was confidently affirmed in +the family that Nono could, from the first, make her laugh and show her +dimples as she would not for any one else. Nono had soon learned that +he could be a help to Karin with the baby, and was always more willing +than were her rough brothers to be tied to the child's little +apron-string. + +Nono had hardly finished his story when the young lady took out the +smallest watch imaginable and looked hastily at it. She gathered up +her painting apparatus in a great hurry, and was off with a hasty +good-bye, saying her father would be expecting her home to dinner, but +she would see them again soon and finish her picture. She had almost +forgotten in her hurry the money she had promised, but she suddenly +remembered that part of the transaction, and left in the old man's +hand, as he said, "more than enough to pay for a whole day's work, just +for standing still, that little bit, to be painted." + +Alma was soon out of sight of Pelle and Decima, who followed her with +their wondering eyes as she sped along the road towards her pleasant +home. The one thing about which her father could be severe with her +was being late at meals. But for this severity, he would often have +dined without her; for Alma was full of absorbing hobbies, and when +anything interested her, food and sleep were to her matters of no +consequence. Now her brain was revolving a new scheme. Alma had been +for years in a Swiss boarding-school, and there, among many +accomplishments, had acquired a thorough knowledge of the English +language. She had been charmed with the accounts she had read of the +work of the English ladies among the cottagers on their large estates. +She had determined to "do just so" when she was fairly settled at home. +She would now begin at once with Nono. She felt she had a kind of +charge over him. Had not her own dear mother died in Italy, where his +mother came from? That baptism, too, she could never forget! He +should not grow up like a heathen in Sweden if she could prevent it. +She would have him up at "the big house" every day for a Scripture +lesson. She wanted to paint him too; how lovely he would be in a +picture! She must have the old man with him. How charming it would be +to sketch youth and age working in the garden together! She could pay +them for their time, and they would look up to her as a kind of +guardian angel. Alma flitted along, almost as if she had wings +already, as these pleasant thoughts floated through her mind. + +The angel seemed suddenly to change to a fury as a shout arose from +behind a dark evergreen, and a nondescript-looking individual, ragged +and dirty, came out upon her, exclaiming,-- + +"I suppose I must not come near your highness, looking as I do!" + +Streaked with mud on face and clothing, his feet bare, and his trousers +rolled up to his knees, her brother stood before her, his eyes gleaming +with delight in spite of her evident displeasure. + +"I've got a basket of polywogs, and some delicious bugs, and a big +caterpillar that would make your mouth water if you were addicted to +vermicelli. See here!" + +He moved as if he were about to open up his treasures for her +inspection. + +"Do keep away, Frans!" exclaimed Alma, as she drew her befrilled and +beflounced skirt about her, as if to escape dangerous contagion. + +At this moment she swept in at the gate that led to the house, and shut +it hastily behind her. + +"I'm going in the back way, anyhow," said Frans, with a merry laugh. +"Your grace and my grace cannot well make our _entree_ together." + +"The most troublesome boy in the world!" said Alma to herself, and she +expressed her sincere conviction. + +At this moment Alma saw the bent form of her father riding slowly +before her. Her whole expression changed again, and she quickened her +steps into a run, and was soon at his side. + +"Are you very tired, papa, after your little ride?" she said tenderly. + +"No, darling. But how fresh and rosy you look! The air of old Sweden +suits you, I see." + +How happy the two were together! how gentle and loving were they both! +Alma really looked like the guardian angel she meant to be to Nono and +Uncle Pelle. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE BOYS. + +When Decima had been fairly settled as the tenth little baby that had +come to the golden house, Erik, the oldest of the flock, confided to +Nono that he meant to start as soon as possible for America. Nono was +the recipient of the secrets of all the children. They always found in +the little Italian a sympathetic listener, and they could be sure of +his profound silence as to their private communications. Nono's +evident sense of the many for whom Karin was called on to care had +suggested to Erik that although it would be too great a penance for him +to be tending a baby, as Nono did, he could go out and earn his own +living; which would probably be quite as useful to the family. So to +America he had resolved to go, always understanding that he had gained +his parents' permission. That permission was not hard to win, for +Karin had friends who were emigrating, and who would take care of her +boy on the way, and were willing to promise to look after him on his +arrival in the "far West," whither they were bound. + +Erik went off cheerily, with his ticket paid to the end of his journey, +and a little box of strong clothing, his Bible, and his parents' +blessing as the capital he took to the new country. Erik had another +treasure, not outside of him, but in his inmost heart--a resolve to +lead in a foreign land just such a life as he should not be ashamed to +have his parents know about, the Word of God being his guide and +comfort. Erik was no experienced Christian, but he had started in the +right spirit. + +Erik had never been renowned for his scholarship, but rather for his +industry and skill when real practical work was in question. He wrote +at first short letters in Swedish. They soon came less and less +frequently, and finally in a kind of mixed language, a mingling of the +new and the old, a fair transcript of his present style of +conversation. These letters caused much puzzling in the golden house, +and occasionally had to be taken to the old pastor for explanation and +translation. One came at last, beginning "Dear moder and broder, +hillo!" Then followed a page in a curious lingo, wherein it was stated +that Erik now had a nice room to himself in the "place" he had +obtained. He did not say that the room was in the stable where he was +hostler, or that it was just six feet by eight when lawfully measured. +He also mentioned that he had food fit for a count; which was true in a +way, as he was daily regaled with fruit and vegetables that would have +been esteemed in Sweden luxuries sufficient for the table of any +nobleman. He dressed like a count too, he said; on which point Erik's +testimony was not to be accepted, as he had had little to do with +counts in his native land. The big boy did not mean to exaggerate. He +was simply and honestly delighted at his success in seeking his +fortune. Not that he was laying up money. Far from it. He was +sending home to "old Sweden" all he could possibly spare, and was +anxious to have Karin feel that it was a light thing for a son who was +so comfortable to be remitting a bit of money now and then to a mother +who had given him such love and care all the days of his life. Erik +did not write much about or to his father, but he thought of him all +the more, and inwardly thanked that father for his stern and steady +hand with his boys, and for teaching them not only to do honest work, +but to know what a real Christian man should be. + +Oke, the next boy, had been the bearer to the parsonage of Erik's +unreadable letters, and had there been instructed in their proper +rendering into everyday Swedish. So a kind of special acquaintance had +grown up between the slender, pale boy and the kind old pastor. + +The pastor was a bachelor, and lonely in his declining years. He had +found it pleasant to see Oke coming with an American letter in his +hand, his young face beaming with delight. The pastor had, besides, +learned to know more and more of Karin's home and the spirit that was +reigning there. Perhaps, when he saw Uncle Pelle sitting in church, +Sunday after Sunday, clean and happy among Karin's boys, he had thought +he too might have a guest-room that might receive one member from the +full golden house. So Oke came to live at the pastor's, who said he +did not see as well as he once did, and he must have a boy trained to +read aloud to him, and to write a bit, too, for him now and then. It +was stipulated that Oke's duties were not to be all of the literary +sort. The pastor was convinced that Oke had a good head for study, and +really ought to have a chance to improve himself. The boy was not, +however, to be kept constantly bending over books, but was to have as +much work in the open air as possible. The pastor himself had a weak +constitution, and had suffered all his life from delicate health, and +had found it no pleasant experience. Oke should be a robust Christian, +for a Christian he was of course to be. + +The elder boys being disposed of, the twins had come into power. The +oldest among the children had always been allowed to be a kind of +perpetual monitor for the rest, with restricted powers of discipline. +Oke's rule had been mild but firm. He had taken no notice of small +matters; but if anything really wrong had gone on, Jan was sure to hear +of it, and a thorough settlement with the offender inevitably followed. + +The twins were rather against the outside world in general, strong in +their two pair of hands, and two loud voices to shout on their side. +Nono really feared this duumvirate, for the twins had more than once +given him to understand that he would "catch it" when they got to be +the oldest at home. They had no particular offences to complain of or +anticipate on Nono's side, but they enjoyed giving out awful threats of +what they would do if ever they had the opportunity. Oke had kept them +in order without difficulty, for he had a vehement power of reproof, +when fairly roused, that could make even the twins hide their faces in +shame, as he pictured to them their unworthiness. + +Nono had gotten on very well with the "lions and the bears" of the +past, but how was he to deal with this two-headed "Philistine" under +whose dominion he had now come? He was resolved on one thing--Karin +should hear no complaints from him. She should not be worried by the +little boy she had taken in among her own to be so wonderfully happy. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +A YOUNG TEACHER. + +Nono and Uncle Pelle had been working a whole morning in the garden at +Ekero under Alma's direction. She was going to have a parterre of her +own, according to a plan she had been secretly maturing. Now it was +the time of mid-day rest, and she was prepared to give Nono his first +lesson; a kind of Sunday school on a week day she meant it to be, and +of the most approved sort. Alma had chosen for herself a rustic sofa, +with a round stone table before her, and behind her the trunk of a huge +linden, with its branches towering high over her head. Opposite her +was Nono, on a long bench, awaiting the opening of the Bible and the +big book that lay beside it. Alma, tall, and fair, and slight, looked +seriously at Nono, small, and dark, and plump, sitting expectant, with +his large eyes fixed upon her. + +Alma paused a moment, and then looked towards one of the grass plots +that made green divisions in the well-kept vegetable-garden. There sat +Uncle Pelle, his round woollen cap on his head, his red flannel sleeves +drawn down to his wrists, while his coat lay over his knees. Uncle +Pelle was very careful of his health. He did not want to be a trouble +and a burden to Karin. He held a little, thin, worn book, over which +he was intently poring. He did not look up until Alma spoke his name. +Perhaps she had thought that he might be feeling lonely there by +himself, or perhaps she fancied that she had prepared too rich a dish +of instruction for little Nono to receive alone. At least she had +sprung hastily towards the old man. "What are you reading here by +yourself, Uncle Pelle?" she said pleasantly. + +Pelle turned to the title-page, showing it to her, and then placed the +book in her hand, open to where he had been reading. Her eye fell on +the passage his long finger pointed out to her. "Use your zeal first +towards yourself, and then wisely towards your neighbour. It is no +great virtue to live in peace with the gentle and the peaceable, for +that is agreeable to every one. It is a great grace and a vigorous and +heroic virtue to live peaceably with the hard, the bad, the lawless, +and with them who set themselves in opposition to us." Alma's eyes +flashed along the lines, and her conscience pricked her with a sharp +prick. She handed the book back to old Pelle, and said quite +modestly,-- + +"I was going to give Nono a little lesson there under the tree. I have +some nice Scripture pictures, too, that you would perhaps like to see." + +"Thanks," said old Pelle, getting up slowly, and falteringly following +the slight figure that flitted on before him. + +Pelle took his seat beside Nono. They both clasped their hands and +closed their eyes. Alma was taken by surprise. She saw what they +expected before this "Bible lesson"--a prayer, of course! No prayer +came to her lips. "God help us all! Amen!" she said at last. "Amen!" +came solemnly from her companions. + +Alma was so disturbed by this little occurrence that her whole plan for +her lesson went out of her mind. She turned with relief towards the +great book, where her mother had placed in order photographs of some of +the most beautiful pictures illustrating the life of our Saviour that +the world can boast. Alma had meant to explain and expound, but she +continued silent. As old Pelle and Nono looked reverently on as she +turned page after page, their faces glowing with reverent interest, now +and then they exchanged meaning glances or a murmured word; which +plainly showed that they understood the incidents so beautifully given +by the great artists of the past. When they came to the Christ on the +cross, their hands clasped themselves as if involuntarily, and a great +tear found its way down Pelle's worn face. The scene was really before +him. He felt himself standing on Calvary, beside the cross of his +Master. + +There was a long pause. Then Alma turned slowly the next page. There, +a modern artist had pictured the bright angels falling adoringly back, +as the Saviour, shining in his glory, burst forth from the tomb. + +"Risen!" said Nono joyously, with the relief of childhood that the sad +part of the holy story had now been told. + +Alma passed on to the representation of the ascension. Pelle looked at +it, his eyes beaming. He raised his long finger and pointed to where a +bright cloud was for the moment half veiling the sun. "So he went, and +so he shall come again. Blessed be the name of the Lord!" burst from +the old man's lips. He was still looking towards the skies, as he +added, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" He bowed his aged head and sat +silent, with clasped hands. Nono and Alma followed his example. When +they looked up an astonished beholder had been added to the group under +the linden. + +"How are you, Uncle Pelle?" said the voice of Frans, as he took the old +man cordially by the hand. Pelle looked at him confusedly for a +moment, and then, with apparent difficulty, brought his thoughts back +to this world, and responded to the pleasant greeting. + +"Nono is to go fishing with me. I've been to the cottage, and got +permission from Mother Karin. I knew the little brownie would not stir +an inch without her leave.--So now, Nono, we are off for a good fish, +and then a good supper for you and me.--Your highness will excuse me +for interrupting your little meeting," added Frans, with mock +politeness. "I hope it has been profitable to all parties." + +Alma compelled herself to keep silence, and to respond pleasantly to +the thanks of Pelle and Nono for what they called "the nice lesson." +They neither of them understood that they had been the teachers, and +the fair, slight girl their humble and abashed pupil. + +Alma took her Bible in her hand, and went into the house to send a +servant for the great album that lay on the stone table. She sat down +in her room in a most disturbed frame of mind, ashamed of her first +effort as a teacher, and irritated that Nono should have come under the +very influence she would have most dreaded for him, even that of her +own brother. + +Then came a voice from below gently calling "Alma." The loving part of +her nature at once took the upper hand, and the fond daughter went down +to her father, ready to do anything he could ask of her for his joy or +comfort. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +IN ALMA'S ROOM. + +The day after the Bible lesson Alma threw herself heartily into her +plan for her parterre, at which Pelle and Nono were busily working. In +the midst of a large velvet patch of closely-cut grass she had a great +parallelogram marked out which was to represent the Swedish flag. The +blue ground was to be of the old Emperor William's favourite flower, +while the cross stretching from end to end was to be of yellow pansies. +The Norwegian union mark in the corner was to be outlined in poppies of +the proper colours. + +There was a slight twinkle in the old man's eyes as he watched Alma, +all enthusiasm, flitting hither and thither, and ordering and planning +like an experienced general, while it was plain to Pelle that she was +as yet but a novice in the mysteries of gardening. He did venture to +hint modestly that it was late--the middle of July--to begin such an +undertaking. Alma took no notice of his discouraging hints, but went +on expatiating as to how charming it would be to have the Swedish flag +lying there on the green grass, and how her father would enjoy it, +loving his country as he did, and being a real soldier himself. A +soldier the colonel certainly was by profession; but he had had other +enemies to meet than the foes of his native land. He had struggled +long with sorrow and ill-health, his constant portion. Exiled from +Sweden for the sake of his delicate wife, and that he himself might be +under the care of eminent physicians who understood his complicated +difficulties, he had still continued a warm Swede at heart. Now he +considered himself stronger; and did it mean life or death for him, the +north should be his home, and his children should learn to love the +land of their forefathers. His native language he had never allowed +them to lose, even when far away from the bright lakes and clustering +pines of the country so dear to him. A war against all that could +injure his fatherland the colonel had all the time been waging with his +skilful pen. By sharp newspaper articles and spirited papers in +magazines he had cast himself into whatever conflict might be going on +in Sweden, and had so had his own share of influence at home. He had +read the Stockholm journals as faithfully as if he had been living in +sight of the royal palace. + +As to her father's being charmed with her plan for her flower-bed, Alma +was confident. She would not listen to Pelle's suggestion that the +flowers would hardly blossom richly at the same time, and those blue +weeds would in the end quite overrun the garden. She had no +misgivings, but walked about with a peculiar air of determination in +her slight, very slight figure. + +Alma's whole person gave the impression of extreme fragility, sustained +by strength of will. It was the same with her delicate face, haloed +round by her sunny hair, ready to float in every breeze. The small +mouth was thin and decided, and the large, full blue eyes could be soft +or stern as the passing mood prompted. They were very gentle as she +looked at Nono when the noonday rest came, and told him he might come +into the house with her, as perhaps she could help him a little about +his writing in her own room. + +Nono would have preferred at that moment to consume the hearty lunch +Karin had provided for him, but he followed submissively. Pelle looked +after the pair as he went to his favourite seat. Somehow the decided +figure of the young girl always touched him. There was something about +her that made him uneasy for her, body and soul. + +Nono looked despairingly at his shoes, fresh from the flower-bed, as he +came to the wide doorway through which Alma had beckoned to him to +follow her. It was in vain he tried to put his feet into proper +condition by gently rubbing them on the mat that he thought fit for a +queen to step on. The colour dashed to his brown cheeks as he saw the +marks he had left on it. He could but tiptoe after Alma as she entered +the, to him, sacred precincts of the "big house" at Ekero. + +Alma felt young and guilty as she met a stout, elderly woman on the +stairs, as she went up with Nono. + +"It's the little Italian boy I saw baptized," she said apologetically. + +"I've seen many children baptized, Miss Alma, and paid respect to what +was doing, I hope, but I don't have them trudging up and down the grand +staircase--no, not even when the colonel is away in foreign parts. +Miss Alma must do as she pleases, but I'd like the colonel to know that +I see things in order as far as I can. I can't be responsible for boys +like that leaving tracks like a bear behind them." + +The comparison to the bear was not meant to be personally offensive +towards Nono, though he always felt that with Bruin he was specially +connected. He had indeed, in his caretaking, not left marks like a +human being as he had tiptoed along, leaving round traces on the +shining floor and stairs, as if a four-footed creature had passed. + +Nono was not much accustomed to harsh words, and the reproaches of the +faithful housekeeper increased his awe of the place, where he felt +himself a decided intruder, though following the young mistress at her +express command. + +Nono was even more disturbed in mind when he was seated at a beautiful +little writing-table, and requested to write on a fair sheet of paper +laid before him. The first verse of a hymn was dictated to him from +the prettiest little psalm book imaginable. His writing was really +wonderful for a boy of his age. The letters were clear and round, and +almost graceful, with here and there a little flourish of his own +invention, added in his desire to do his best. + +[Illustration: "The first verse of a hymn was dictated to him."] + +Alma was quite disappointed when she saw that there was no field here +for her instructions. She could hardly write better herself, and by no +means as legibly. She was aiming at a flowing hand, and her efforts +but showed that her character was yet too unformed to attempt such a +dashing style with the pen. + +On nearer examination, Nono's spelling was found to be most +exceptionable. + +"Have you never been taught spelling at school, Nono?" asked Alma, very +seriously. + +"Oh yes!" he answered cheerfully, and forthwith drew himself up as he +stood, and recited the rules for the various ways in which the English +sound "oh" may be represented in Swedish, giving the proper examples +under the rule. This little Nono could rattle off in grand +school-recitation style, though these etymological gymnastics never +bore on his practices as a writer. + +Of such rules Alma knew nothing. She had learned Swedish spelling on +quite another principle. For years she had copied a Swedish poem every +day for her father (whether with him or away from him), in pretty +little books, which were in due time presented to him with the +inscription at the beginning, "From his devoted daughter." + +Alma now gave Nono the "psalm book," and bade him copy the hymn +carefully. He did not dare to touch the dainty little volume, for his +hands were far from immaculate after his morning's work. He managed, +though, with his knuckles to steady it against Baxter's "Saints' Rest" +and "Thomas a Kempis," which in choice bindings found their place among +Alma's devotional books, more in memory of her mother, to whom they had +belonged, than for any special use they were to the present owner. + +Nono's copy proved fair and correct, for he had the idea that whatever +he did must be done well. He signed his name, and put the date below, +as he was requested, adding a superfluous supplementary flourish, like +an expression of rejoicing that the trial was over. + +On one side of the table was a little porcelain statuette that fixed +his attention. On an oval slab lay a fine Newfoundland dog, while a +boy, evidently just rescued from drowning, was stretched beside him, +the dank hair and clinging clothes of the child telling the story as +well as his closed eyes and limp, helpless hands. + +"Is he really drowned? is he dead?" asked Nono, forgetting all about +the spelling, as did his teacher when she heard his question. + +"That is one of my treasures, Nono," she said. "The princess gave it +to my mother. She modelled it with her own hands--the group after +which this was made, I mean. You have heard about the good princess, +Nono?" + +Nono shook his head and looked very guilty. He knew the king's name, +and believed him to be quite equal to David; but as to the queen and +all the "royal family," he was in most republican ignorance. + +Now Alma had something she liked to talk about. Perhaps she was +willing that even Nono should know that her own dear mother had been +intimately acquainted with a princess, and had loved her devotedly, and +been as warmly loved in return. Alma even condescended to tell Nono +that it was the princess who had first led her dear mother to a true +Christian life; which high origin for religious influence Alma seemed +to look upon as if it were a sort of superior aristocratic form of +vaccination. Alma went on to describe the saintly princess as she had +heard her spoken of by both her father and her mother, whose respect +and affection she had so justly won. + +How the image grew and fixed itself in Nono's mind of a real, living +princess who sold her rich jewels to build and sustain a home for the +sick poor! He heard how she, in her own illness, surrounded by every +luxury, could have no rest until she had planned a home where they too +could have comfort and tender care. The dark eyes of the listener grew +moist as he heard of the hospital the princess now had for crippled and +diseased children, where they were made happy and had real love as well +as a real home. + +Nono was a happy boy when he went out from Alma's room with a little +engraved likeness of the princess in his hand, and a glow of warm +feeling for her in his fresh young heart. For certain private reasons +of his own, she seemed very near to him, and the thought of her was +peculiarly precious. + +When old Pelle and Nono were going home that evening, he produced his +little likeness of the princess, and told Pelle all about her. + +Pelle's eyes sparkled, and he said as he rubbed his hands together, +"That princess does belong to the royal family! She is a daughter of +the great King!" + +"May I put her up in your room, Uncle Pelle?" asked Nono. "I do not +quite like to have her in the cottage, where the children can get at +her. They might not understand that this is not like any other +picture." + +"That you may," said Pelle; "and come in to see her, too, as often as +you please. A sick princess and a Christian too! She wouldn't mind +having her likeness put up in my poor place, if she is like what you +say. God bless her!" + +Nono had a way of taking what was precious to him to Pelle to keep, and +curious were the boyish treasures he had stored away in Pelle's room. +It had been a bare little home when the old man went into it, but he +had made it a cosy nest in his own fashion. Pelle had been for a time +a sailor in his youth, and had learned to make himself comfortable in +narrow quarters. A fever caught in a foreign port had laid him by, and +left sad traces behind it in his before strong body. Other and better +traces had been left in his life, even repentance for past misdoings +and resolutions for a faithful Christian course. As a gardener's +"helping hand" he had long gotten on comfortably; but illness and old +age had come upon him, and there had seemed no prospect for him but the +poorhouse, when Karin's hospitable door opened for him. + +The lawsuit was not settled, but it was well known in the neighbourhood +that Jan Persson had said Uncle Pelle should not go to the poorhouse +while he had a home. + +Pelle felt quite independent now, and he held his head straight as he +walked by Nono and talked about the good princess. Had not the young +lady at Ekero said she should need him straight on in the garden? for +she saw he knew all about flowers, and could be of real use to her. +Alma wanted to be a friend to Nono too, but she did not yet exactly see +how. There was something about the boy she did not quite understand. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +KARIN'S FETE. + +Nono was in disgrace. The twins had twice brought him before Karin, +his clothes all smeared with mud, as if he had purposely made his whole +person the colour of his brown face, and had given his hands rough +gloves of a still darker hue. Of course he had at first been sternly +reprimanded, for Karin suffered no such proceedings in her neat +household. The second reproof was more severe, and accompanied by the +promise of a thorough whipping if the offence were repeated. + +The long summer evenings gave a fine play-time for the boys, and then +Nono generally amused himself out of the way of the twins, who were +very despotic in their style of government. Again they had detected +him brushing himself behind the bushes, and dolorously looking at the +obstinate stains upon his cotton clothes. With a wild hollo they +seized the culprit between them, and hurried him along towards Karin, +who was cheerily examining her flower-beds under the southern windows, +and chatting meanwhile with Jan, who sat on the doorstep. + +Karin was both grieved and angry, and unusually excited. "Nono must be +whipped, and that soundly," she said emphatically to Jan. "This is the +third time he has come to the house in that condition. I won't have +him learn to disobey me that way." + +Jan got up slowly, and took from its hiding-place inside the cottage +something that looked like a broom-brush made of young twigs. It was +the family emblem and instrument of punishment, much dreaded among the +children; and with reason, for Jan had a strong hand and a sure one. +He had been accustomed to giving his own boys a thrashing now and then, +but on Nono he had never laid hands, as Karin's gentler discipline had +usually sufficed for her foster-son. + +The tears were in the eyes of the culprit, but he stood quite still, +and was at first speechless. At last he managed to say, "Don't whip me +here, Papa Jan; take me down to the shore, please." Jan generally had +his times of punishment quite private with the boys, the grove behind +the house being the usual place of execution. He could not, however, +refuse Nono's modest request. Off to the shore they went together, the +twins meanwhile shrugging and wincing, as if they themselves were +undergoing the ordeal, while they said to each other, "He'll catch it! +It won't feel good!"--not without some satisfaction, mingled with a +sense of the seriousness of the occasion. + +Little Decima, who had been a depressed looker-on at the proceedings, +buried her head in her mother's apron and cried as if she herself were +the victim. The little boys, no longer little, were hardened to +punishment, as they were often in disgrace for their wild pranks, but +the idea of Nono's being whipped seemed to have made them uncommonly +sober. Sven went into the cottage to look among his treasures for +something with which to console Nono on his return from the shore. +Thor was walking up and down, giving defiant looks at the twins for +their want of sympathy with Nono in his humiliation. There was a +sorrowful shadow over the whole family group that evening not common at +the golden house. + +To the surprise of all parties Jan soon appeared, holding Nono by the +hand, both apparently in a most cheerful humour. There were no tears +in Nono's face, and Jan looked down at him with peculiar tenderness. + +"Nono has not meant to be a bad boy," said Jan; "and I have forgiven +him, and I think you will have to forgive him too, Karin." + +"Dear, dear Mamma Karin, indeed I did not want to be a bad boy," said +Nono. "That would be hard, after all your kindness to me. Please, +please forgive me!" Nono put his arm round Karin as he spoke. She +looked doubtfully at him, but could not refuse the lips he put up to +her to be kissed in sign of full forgiveness. + +Sven, who had found a broken horse-shoe among his treasures, was rather +disappointed that he had lost the opportunity of consoling Nono with +his friendly gift. + +Decima laid her little hand in Nono's, and was about leading him off +the scene, when she was suddenly captured by her mother and hurried +into the cottage, with the exclamation, "Here's Decima up till this +time! One never knows when to put children to bed these summer +evenings. She'll be as cross as pepper in the morning if she don't get +her sleep out!" + +It was plain that Karin was not quite satisfied with the turn the whole +affair had taken. + +"Papa is too partial to Nono! It is a shame!" murmured the twins, as +they went off in a pout. + +The morning of the second day of August was warm and bright. When +Karin awoke, Jan was already up and out of the house. The children +were dressed in their holiday clothes, by their father's permission, +they said, their faces beaming with satisfaction. Karin was hardly in +order when Jan appeared and advised her to put on a white apron, which +she wonderingly consented to do, and then Jan led her off down to the +shore. Behind them the children followed in orderly procession. Old +Pelle brought up the rear, like the shepherd with the sheep going on +before him. + +Of the why and wherefore of all this ado the children had no idea. +Nono had assured them that their father approved of the whole thing, +and the proud and yet tender way that Jan was walking with Karin showed +that the affair had his full endorsement. + +On a green bank in a little cove in the shore Karin was ceremoniously +seated, and Jan placed himself at her side. + +The children threw into her lap their bouquets, each of a hue of its +own, to lie there like a jumbled-up rainbow. With Oke's bright flowers +from the pastor's garden fell a bank-note from the absent Erik, with an +inscription pinned to it in his usual lingo: "Mamma. From her gosse +Erik." (Nono had assured Oke it was best to keep the gift till the +second of August.) A few drops fell on the note and the bright flowers +from Karin's astonished eyes; but there was a sudden sunshine of joy +and wonder as Nono proceeded to take down the evergreen branches that +were leaned against the bank opposite to her. There, a deep arch had +been scooped into the hillside. In its sweet retirement there was a +tiny house of yellow pine, perfectly modelled after the family home, +the door open, and the flower-beds in their proper place under the +windows. In front of the house was a group, which all recognized at a +glance. "Perfect! Just as if he had seen it! Think! he could make +it, when he was only _so long_ at the time!" exclaimed Oke, his fingers +indicating a most diminutive baby. There was no contempt, but +unlimited admiration, in this mention of the infant Nono. + +[Illustration: The model house.] + +It was indeed a most successful bit of modelling. The picture that had +been so long in Nono's mind had taken form. Bear, and Italians, and +Swedes, and the very baby Francesca was raising high in the air for a +toss, were wonderfully living and full of expression. + +When the tumult of delight was subdued for a moment, Jan intimated, as +he had been requested, that Nono had something to say. + +What grandiloquence Nono had prepared never transpired. As it was, he +forgot his intended speech. His heart was in his throat; but he +managed to say that this was Katharina day in the almanac, and so Mamma +Karin's name-day, and the dear mother of them all ought, of course, to +be honoured. He had found some nice clay by the shore, which would +stay in any form he put it, and he had tried to make the group he had +thought so much about to show how thankful he was to have a place in +such a home. He had not meant to be careless, but when he got at his +work he forgot everything else, and so it had all happened. The last +time was the worst, when he had spilt the basin of water, just as he +was trying to make himself decent. Papa Jan had forgiven him, and he +hoped Mamma Karin would do so too, now she had heard all about it. He +really had not meant to be a bad boy. + +Karin caught the little Italian in her arms, while Jan looked down on +them benignantly, and the children roared an applause that came from +the depths of their hearts. They had never thought of celebrating +their mother's name-day. It had never even struck them that she had +one, as her name as they knew it was not to be found in the almanac. +As for themselves, each could remember some simple treat that had been +provided for his name-day--a row on the bay, pancakes after dinner, an +apple all round, a trip to the village, or some other favour calculated +to specially please the recipient and make all happy in the home. + +The children, all but Nono, had been sure to have their _fete_; for if +the name by which they were called in everyday life had no place in the +almanac, they had a luxury used only once a year which fixed their time +to be honoured--a second name that stood in the calendar. So Decima +had come to be a kind of D.D. in her way. She had been baptized Decima +Desideria, that she too might have a name-day and a celebration. + +Desideria was a royal name, and a kind of a queen too. Decima had been +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 Frans cosily sitting on the doorstep +beside Jan in his working dress, and his own not more presentable for +eyes polite. Frans enjoyed society where the laws of etiquette and the +dominion of fashion were unknown. + +"You here, Frans!" exclaimed Alma, with a sudden cloud on her before +smiling face. + +"You here, Alma!" answered Frans, starting up with affected surprise, +then offering to his sister with formal courtesy the seat he had +vacated at honest Jan's side. + +Jan took himself up too--a slow process for him after a day of hard +work. Bareheaded he stepped forward to welcome the young lady, who at +once explained the object of her visit. Nono, who had seen her in the +distance, now came to meet her, and willingly led the way to the shore. +Karin, who was weeding in the vegetable-garden, did not know of the +arrival of the guest. + +Alma's delight with the group exceeded Nono's expectations. She used +words about it such as she had heard her father employ in criticising +works of art, and quite soared beyond Nono's comprehension as well as +her own. The little house, just like Karin's cottage, charmed her +completely. "Did you really make it all yourself, Nono; the house, I +mean?" she said. + +"Uncle Pelle helped me about it a little," said Nono honestly. "I am +glad you like it." + +"I like it so much that I want just such a one, to be really my own, +but very, very much smaller it should be. I should like to use it as a +money-box, a kind of savings-bank. The chimney should be open all the +way down, so that I could drop the money in. The door should be +locked, and I should have the key. I have a lock from an old work-box +that would just do. Pelle could help you to fit it in, I am sure; he +is so handy about everything. Will you do it, Nono?" + +Of course Nono gladly said he would try; and then Alma added, "But I +want to see Pelle too, and Karin, and Pelle's room, and the cottage." + +"Pelle does not often let anybody come into his room but me," said Nono +hesitatingly; "but Mamma Karin will be pleased, ever so pleased, to see +you, I am sure." + +"Perhaps I had better come another time," said Alma, remembering that +Frans was on the premises, and not being at all sure what he might +choose to say while she was trying to make herself agreeable at the +golden house. So Alma made her way to the gate, escorted by Nono, and +only left a message for the family, who had all assembled in the +garden, which Frans was cheerily inspecting. + +Nono began at once to plan about the savings-bank for Alma, and was +much in deep consultation with Pelle. In the course of their +conversations on the subject, Nono heard from the old man how the +golden house came to be so very different from the usual red cottages +of Sweden. He felt it was like Karin not to have told him the story. +She had served as maid in her youth to an eccentric old lady, with whom +she had lived until she was married. When her former mistress was near +her end, and was gloomily looking forward to death, some words of +simple faith and hope she had once heard from Karin came now to her +mind like a new revelation, and the glad truths took deep root in her +troubled heart. An abounding gratitude to Karin at once took +possession of the dying woman, and she added an item to her will +providing that Karin, who was struggling along with her young family +about her, should have a bit of land of her own, and a cottage built +upon it, like those the testator remembered in the part of Sweden where +she had lived in her childhood. It should all be one great room up to +the roof, but very comfortable and convenient. It must not, though, be +red like any other cottage, but yellow at first, and always yellow; for +Karin had been as good as gold to her mistress, and better. So this +was the story of "the golden house," as the Italian had named it--a +name it had borne ever since. + +Bright yellow, and complete in all its appointments, was the little +house that Nono at last took to Alma. If not gold itself, something +golden, small and round, fell into Nono's hands as Alma received it. +"Now, Nono," she said, "that is your gift from your godmother, for I am +a kind of a godmother to you. It may be the last present you will have +from me. I am going to be very saving now, and lay up all the money I +can." + +Nono felt as if common Swedish words were hardly fit to express his +thankfulness, so he astonished Alma by dropping on one knee and kissing +her hand, as he had seen "a courtier saluting a queen" in a "history +book" he studied at school. + +Old Pelle, meanwhile, was looking on with the sharp twinkle in his eye +with which he watched many of Alma's proceedings. She knew he had been +consulting-architect as to the little cottage, but she could not help +calling on him now to admire it, saying, "Is it not a beauty, and just +like Karin's home?" + +Pelle leaned on his rake as he stood, and answered, "It is like it, and +it is not like it. People's faces can look like them even when they +are dead. That is a kind of a dead house to me with the door tight +shut. That isn't the way at the cottage. The door is always open, in +a way, there. It says, 'Come in; you're welcome.' If the Master up +there," and he raised his thin finger towards the skies, "was to say to +Karin, 'Where is the guest-room?' she'd likely point to the house, all +one great room inside. She'd make a mistake, though. Her guest-room +is in _here_, where she let the Master in long ago." Pelle laid his +hand on his breast, where he supposed his honest old heart to be +beating. He may not have located it right physiologically, but +something whispered to Alma that the old man spoke the truth as he +added emphatically, "The guest-room is the heart, to my thinking; and +when the right Guest gets in there, sharing is easy, and a man or a +woman grows free and friendly like." + +Pelle began to work very diligently, raking the newly-cut grass as if +he had had his say in the matter and had no more time for talking. + +Alma went into the house with the savings-bank in her hand. A +savings-bank it proved to be as the months went on, with a very strong +draught down the little chimney. Alma had been in earnest when she had +said she meant to be economical. Her firm will was now set in that +direction. Coin after coin was dropped into the chimney, as swallow +after swallow sinks into similar quarters when a summer night comes on. +The accumulating store lay in secrecy and in stillness, save when Alma +now and then made the little house shake as if an earthquake threatened +it with destruction, while she listened delightedly to the jingling and +rattling within. She wished often that she had asked Nono to make real +windows with glass in them, through which she might have feasted on her +treasure. She did not like those little black pasteboards based with +white, and the pots of flowers painted behind them to simulate Karin's +geraniums. + +Every Saturday evening Pelle came to be paid for his labours of the +week. His gains were duly handed over to Karin, and then Pelle went to +his little room, where he walked up and down, holding his head as high +as the ceiling would permit, in the comfortable consciousness that he +had turned his back on the poorhouse, and yet was not a burden at the +cottage. + +The colonel had provided the money for Pelle from the first, and now +Alma had asked him to do the same for Nono, as she had something +particular in view for which she was saving all she could spare. The +colonel looked inquiringly, but received no answer to his questioning +glance. He was accustomed to Alma's having her plans and her whims and +fancies; and as they generally did no harm, he was not in the habit of +examining particularly into them. It would even be a pleasure to him +to pay Nono's wages personally. He liked the little brown boy who made +him think of the sunny south, and could not pass him in the garden +without giving him a pleasant word or a friendly nod. It pleased him +to think there would now be a new link between them. A silver link it +proved in a small way to Nono, who had no reason to complain of the +change. The little Italian did, however, half realize that Miss Alma +did not notice him quite in the same way as at first; but he was +thankful for the friendliness of the past, for his pleasant home, and +for steady work, and life was very bright to him now that the twins +were more his protectors than his tyrants. + +Frans was not at all pleased with the new system of economy. Alma had +always been ready to give or to lend to him from her own private purse +when he was "short of money," for the construction of his machines or +for any of his various undertakings. She had often scolded him for +being thriftless and reckless, but had been as liberal with her loans +and gifts as with her reproaches. He was fairly astonished when his +birthday came round to receive from her an old book of her own, with +the fly-leaf torn out, and an inscription written on the title-page, +"Frans. From his devoted sister." + +"Much devoted!" he said with a shrug, as he looked at his present, a +nicely-bound book, truly, and containing much good advice, but conveyed +in such long words and long sentences and such very small print that +Alma herself had never been able to read it. "What's got into you, +Alma?" he added hastily; "you seem to be drawing off from me, every +way, as fast as you can. I wonder if you will stop calling me Frans +one of these days, and pretend you are no sister of mine. You know I +don't care for this thing! I'm not much of a reader, any way, and +books are not much in my line, unless they are about travels or +machines or something that grows or crawls. You are all the sister I +have, and I wish sometimes you would find it out!" + +Frans did not wait for an answer, but ran off to thank the housekeeper +for the big cake she had made for him, and the flower-decked table on +which it had been placed. He wanted to thank his father, too, for the +neat little cupboard that had been placed in his room for his cabinet, +with lock and key, glass doors, and plenty of shelves, just as he would +have wished it. + +The colonel was not well, and had not yet appeared. Perhaps he wanted +to see his boy first, alone, on his birthday. + +Frans looked quite tender and softened when the interview was over. He +was convinced that his father, at least, did love him very dearly, in +spite of the trouble he was always giving. "Suppose--suppose," he +thought to himself--"suppose I should turn over a new leaf, and really +try to be better!" + +He passed out into the garden and chanced to look up at Alma's window. +She stood there with the yellow cottage in her hand, and was dropping +something down the chimney. "There goes my present, I daresay," he +thought, and again the bitter mood was uppermost, in spite of his +father's kind words and the charming new home for his cabinet. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE SLIDE. + +Not the angel of death but the angel of beauty seemed to have made his +rounds in the night. Not a tree nor a shrub had been passed by. The +very dried weeds by the roadside were clothed in fairy garments. It +was as if nature had been suddenly purified, exalted, made ready for +translation. Alma looked out through her window,--not on the dark old +oaks or the bare slender birches of yesterday. In feathery whiteness +the oaks stood up before her, their hoary heads a crown of beauty, as +in a sainted old age. The graceful birches stood in "half concealing, +half revealing" pure drapery, as if shrouded in a bridal veil. + +Round Karin's home the solemn evergreens had lost their gloom, and the +white-robed branches drooped, as if to cast a double blessing on the +passer-by. + +Four noisy boys stormed out from the cottage door with a glad shout. +They saw nothing of poetry or beauty or mystery in the wonders the +hoar-frost had been working. They but remembered they were in the +midst of the Christmas holidays, and to-day they were to finish, under +the direction of Frans, the packing of the snow slope that led down to +the frozen bay. There they were all to have a splendid time coasting +on the long new sled that all had been busy in perfecting. "She," as +the boys said, was a "grand affair," a "regular buster." + +Similar thoughts had been uppermost with Nono, but they had now taken a +different form. He was still inside the cottage, coaxing Karin to let +Decima have her share in the frolic. He would hold fast to her +himself, he said, and see that she came to no harm. + +By two o'clock in the afternoon the slide was ready. Many hands had +made light work, and Frans had proved an admirable engineer. He now +took his place on the long sled as steersman and captain of the whole +affair. Decima, rolled in her mother's red shawl, was placed in the +midst of the group of merry boys, Nono's willing arms holding her as +firmly as it was possible to grasp such an uncertain kind of a bundle. + +All went on merrily. Far out on to the ice-covered bay the great sled +rushed with wonderful swiftness. Then there was the return trip +uphill, Decima riding with only Nono beside her, as her humble +servitor, to keep her steady. + +The sport went on and time flew by. Grown more and more daring, the +strong heels of the boys urged on the descending sled till it moved at +the pace of a swift locomotive. Suddenly there came a clumsy +old-fashioned sleigh along the shore road, which crossed the slide at a +right angle. Frans braked with heel and staff, and the other boys in +vain did their best to help him. The sled struck the sleigh, and was +emptied in a moment. The boys who were unencumbered fell here and +there in the soft snow or on the road. Nono held desperately fast to +his precious bundle, but could not save little Decima. While the rest +of the party were jumping up and rubbing their bruises, or declaring +they were "all right," Nono, half stunned, lay helpless with little +Decima still in his arms. She was screaming terribly, and would hardly +submit to being lifted up by the boys, even when Nono had rallied and +was giving her a helping hand. + +The accident was followed by a weary, sorrowful time at the cottage. +Decima's broken leg was set by the doctor, and she was laid on the box +couch, her usual bed, with a brick dangling from her ankle to keep the +injured limb straight while it was healing. + +If Decima had been a queen before, she now became a despot of the most +arbitrary sort. She was not patient by nature, and as to her habits of +obedience, they seemed broken as well as her leg. There was no limit +to her exactions. Her brothers she treated like worthless slaves, and +they soon learned to keep out of her reach, and when possible out of +the cottage. Nono spent his spare time faithfully beside her, +contriving all sorts of devices for her amusement. Frans looked in +often to see how she was getting on, and never came empty-handed. +There was always some special sweet bit to please her, or a "picture +book," or an apple, or a dainty plate of food begged from the +housekeeper. + +Once, when Frans was going to the village, Alma had thought of +commissioning him to buy a doll, a prettily-dressed doll, for Decima; +but she checked herself, almost as if the idea had been sinful, and +that day a special contribution found its way down the chimney of her +treasure-house. Notwithstanding the kindness of Frans to the little +patient, he did not find her an angelic sufferer, even as far as he was +concerned. She became more and more fastidious as to his presents, +always expecting some gift more novel and beautiful than the last. +Frans made all kinds of jokes about her "decimal fractiousness," which +were noisily appreciated by the young arithmeticians at the cottage. +Nono alone could not laugh at anything which concerned Decima's +misfortune, for which he considered himself in a manner accountable. + +The great undivided room of the interior of the cottage was now a sore +trial for Karin. The door seemed to be always ajar, Decima declaring +she felt a draught wherever she was placed. At last the boys went out +one day and left the door wide open, with poor little Decima alone in +the room, with a rush of keen air blowing upon her. Of course she took +cold, and Karin was quite in despair. The child began to complain that +the boys always were making a noise, and the dishes rattled so they +hurt her. It was in vain that Karin tripped about with the utmost +care; her lightest steps, Decima said, shook the whole floor. As for +Jan and the boys, they were for ever doing something that made the +little patient's head ache or that put her in a bad humour. The doctor +finally said he did not see how Decima was to get well in that room, +with that noisy family about her. It might do for well folks to live +so packed together, but to be sick in such a place was another question. + +Karin, with her usually cheerful face all clouded, went one day to old +Pelle's room for comfort, as she had often done before. He did not +say, though he thought it, that his own little den was none of the +warmest, or he would take Decima there. He was thankful for the +shelter, such as it was. He proposed nothing for the child's comfort, +but reminded Karin that little Decima 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 +quizzical shrugs and wry faces and many misgivings. + +It had struck Jan at once that one of the older boys would have been +much better fitted for such a trip than little Nono; but what would +they dare to say to a princess? They would perhaps never be allowed to +get into the palace at all. Nono, with his pretty ways and bright +black eyes, would be sure to get in anywhere. Karin had made him neat +enough to come into anybody's house. And as to his telling his story, +he could talk like a book when he got started, and make his hands talk +too, if he chose. + +Old Pelle's eyes had glistened when he heard of the plan. When he bade +Nono good-bye, he had begun the boy's favourite text, "He who delivered +me from the lion and the bear--" He stopped, and then added, "The +princess is no Philistine, but one of the Lord's anointed, I am sure. +She is the great King's daughter! You know what I mean, Nono." + +Nono did understand, and went out strengthened. He knew he had Uncle +Pelle's approval and his blessing on his errand. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A PEDESTRIAN TRIP. + +Nono had not started alone on his trip to Stockholm. He had with him a +companion as lively as himself. A black companion it was, and with a +voice that could vary from the deepest bass to the highest treble, not +only at will, but at the word of command. Alas! this companion had a +ring in his nose like a heathen islander, though he had been born in a +Christian country, and had enjoyed unusual advantages for education. +He was accustomed to be washed, and to be dressed on occasion, and he +took his food most respectably considering his ancestry. If he were +not "learned," as some of his race had been, he was at least a most +accomplished and amusing companion. Nono had tried hard to make his +pet a biped; but the creature was not ambitious of being promoted to +walking upright like man, though he could stand on two legs as stiffly +as any statue, at least for a few moments. He knew he was after all +but a little black pig, with a ring in his nose (as a punishment for +rooting), and submitted humbly to being led, and tried to obey his +master's least command as far as his intelligence permitted. + +When the little black pig had made his appearance at the colonel's, in +the midst of six rose-coloured brothers, everybody had been reminded of +Nono among the fair-haired children at the golden house. Frans at once +declared that the eccentric pig ought to belong to the little Italian, +and the present had been finally made, with all due ceremonies, and an +appropriate speech from Frans, which won great applause from the +auditors. Blackie then and there received his name, which he had ever +since retained, and to which he seemed willing to bring honour. + +Nono had made his pet a rustic home of his own, and had resolved from +the first that Blackie should be something remarkable. Oke had +described to the boy the learned pigs about which he had read, and Nono +betook himself in earnest to the education of Blackie, and found his +efforts crowned with amazing success. + +Karin had looked rather gloomy at first about piggie's being destined +to an exceptional career, but she relented when she saw what innocent +merriment he had introduced into the family. Jan was never too tired +to laugh as heartily as the boys to see Blackie giving his hard paw to +be shaken, or singing or scolding according to the words of command. +If the order were "Scold, Blackie!" he scolded to perfection in his +grunting way. If it were "Sing, Blackie!" he laid his head +sentimentally on one side, and gave a succession of shrill squeals that +brought forth from the listeners a glad round of applause. Blackie's +everyday dress was provided by nature, and was dusky of course, but +scrupulously brushed--a process which he evidently considered an +agreeable luxury. + +Blackie had been taken to the yearly fair in a red flannel blanket +pointed at the edges, that an elephant might have been proud to wear if +it had suited his proportions. Nono had exhibited his pet thus +attired, and his accomplishments were so well rewarded that Karin +received in advance full pay for Blackie's winter accommodation, to +Nono's infinite satisfaction. + +Nono had not thought of taking Blackie as a companion in his pedestrian +trip until he was passing the home of his pet, after bidding good-bye +to the elders of the family. The traveller had been suddenly struck +with the thought that Blackie might chance to serve instead of a long +purse for the exigencies of the journey, and it would be best to take +him, as private property, to supply the possible needs of the uncertain +future. + +It may be that it had unconsciously seemed dreary to the little Italian +to start out into the great world alone, and that a four-footed friend +would be better than none. The plan promised to prove a good one; for +Blackie was a companion who, though he said little, required too much +attention for his master to have many anxious thoughts. Accomplished +as piggie certainly was, he was evidently puzzled as to Nono's +intentions, and constantly suggested in his own way that the walk had +been long enough, and it was time to turn back to the golden house. +After a sharp contention on this subject, the travellers came in sight +of a house which Nono fancied would suit his purpose, for he rightly +guessed that Blackie's appetite had been sharpened by the long walk in +the fresh air. Most abundant refreshments for boy and beast were given +on the one side, and on the other a whole family had a hearty laugh to +promote their own digestion. Blackie could not have done better if he +had fully realized the importance of the occasion. + +Towards twilight the glad jingling of bells rang out on the air--a +perfect concert of its kind. A train of sleighs drawn by prancing +horses came dashing down a long hill that Nono could see in the +distance, as he trudged over a level stretch below. Nono stepped out +into the soft snow as the first sleigh was almost upon him, the pace of +the horses being prudently slackened at the sight of the uncommon +impediment in the road. Nono took off his hat and bowed, while his +face gleamed with delight at the pretty display--the festal white nets +of the horses, and the fur-covered sleighs where the merry party were +so comfortably stowed. + +When Nono bowed, at a motion from him the pig did the same, standing in +his very best way, if not in most graceful court fashion. The little +dark figures on the background of snow brought forth a cheery peal of +laughter, as sleigh after sleigh passed by with nods and shouts of +approval. Some self-sacrificing lover of children first managed to get +his hand into his pocket under the wraps; so came, by example, from one +and another a small rain of copper, with now and then a silver bit for +company. Nono and Blackie plunging round in the snow to pick up the +treasures (Blackie hoping for a dainty morsel, and Nono eager that +nothing should be lost) made a funny little roadside scene that sent +the gay party on their way even more merry than before. + +Nono was not sure that he had gathered up all the results of this +unexpected exhibition, but he soon felt obliged to resume his march, as +the night was coming on rapidly. Blackie introduced him pleasantly to +a little shoemaker, who came up from behind and joined the two +pedestrians. Of course he asked Nono all manner of questions, and got +true replies, as to where he was going and why. The hardy shoemaker +had a leather apron over his heart, but the heart in his broad breast +was honest and kind. Nono and Blackie were taken into his poor +cottage, and were free to sleep in its one room, where he and his wife +and two children, and the leather and the shoes to be mended, and much +more of a nondescript nature, were huddled together. + +In the morning Nono was assured that one day's more walk would bring +him near to Stockholm. That was a trifle, the shoemaker said. He had +walked as far as that to church every Sunday, when he was young, and +lived up in the north, where the snow was not to be sneezed at, and the +night lasted almost all day, as he inconsistently expressed it. + +As to visiting the princess, the shoemaker assured Nono that was sheer +madness. A boy like him would hardly dare to look any of the royal +family in the face, he was certain. He had never heard anything +particular about the princess, to be sure, but high folks didn't like +to be bothered. He advised Nono to show Blackie in the streets. That +might bring him a bit of money; and if worst came to worst there was +begging, not a bad business in Stockholm he had heard. Money was to be +made that way, no doubt, by such a chap as Nono, who had such a pretty +story to tell. + +The shoemaker meant no harm, after his way of looking at life; but Nono +drew himself up straight, and said he believed he should see the +princess, he knew about her, and she was almost an angel. He might +have added, if he had spoken his thoughts, that he felt acquainted with +her after a fashion, and that, further, he hoped he should never come +to begging while he was able and willing to work. Nono could pay for +food and lodging for himself and Blackie without drawing on Jan's +coppers, and he set off full of courage. The shoemaker and his wife +had been kind, and he thanked them in his heart, as he had with his +lips, at parting, but he felt more and more grateful for his home in +the golden house. Nobody ever swore there, or tipped up a black bottle +with something strong in it. And how clean it was always, and how cosy! + +The shoemaker's discouraging words had, however, been for Nono much +like the chilling mist that surrounded him when he started on his +second day's journey. He suddenly thought of "the lion and the bear" +and "this Philistine," and he was again convinced that there would be a +blessing on his undertaking, and the dear princess would prove to be no +Philistine, but just what he had fancied her. + +As Nono drew nearer to Stockholm the cottagers seemed to be of a +rougher sort; and it was well that he had money to buy what he needed, +for nobody seemed to care to look at him or his piggie. When he tried +to tell his story about Karin and little Decima, and that he was going +to see the princess, he heard only rude shouts of derision or hard +words in reply. He got, however, leave to pass the night in a stable, +with Blackie beside him, with the parting good-night warning not to +steal off with the lent blanket in the morning. It would not have been +easy to slip off unobserved, for the stable was locked and barred, and +Nono was as safely imprisoned as if he had been in the common jail. +The friendly old cart-horse taught him no harm, and mumbled with +contentment as it cheerfully ate its humble fare, peering now and then +towards the dark corner where Blackie sang and scolded, as if for the +special entertainment of the host in the stable. + +By making payment in advance in the morning Nono got a glass of milk to +take with his hard bread, and Blackie had the same fare, which put him +in a good humour for the day. + +Nono was surprised to find that he felt a little shy about entering the +city, when he saw the spires shining in the morning sun and the houses +rising in close lines about them. The mist had fairly rolled away. +All nature was bright, but Nono had too solemn a sense of the greatness +and the extraordinary nature of his undertaking to be in anything but a +serious mood. + +He was in the outskirts of Stockholm, when some big apprentice boys who +were on their way to their work hailed him as he was in the midst of a +contention with Blackie, who seemed convinced that, with all his +accomplishments, he was not fit for city life, and it was best for him +to stay in the rural districts. The apprentices offered to help Nono, +which they did substantially, if subduing Blackie were the matter in +question. Two of them took him in their arms and held him firmly, +while Nono was ordered to tell honestly how that stylish little pig +came into his possession. Nono said simply that it was given to him, +and then hurried to tell the story of his errand. He was afraid of the +rough, dirty fellows, who had a wild, reckless look about them; and +they so interrupted him by loud laughs unpleasant to hear, that Nono +got confused, and really gave no very clear account of himself. + +The apprentices, putting on an air of mock respect, declared it was +quite impossible to go to see the princess with that little pig as a +companion, genteel a pig as he seemed to be. They could take care of +him, and Nono could call for him on the way home. They lived, they +said, in a house at which they pointed in the distant fields. Then +they started off in that direction as fast as their feet could carry +them, with Blackie held fast in the strong arms of the tallest of the +party. + +It was in vain that Nono called upon the retiring enemy. They shook +their fists at him and laughed mockingly, and called out that they +would "give it to him" if he undertook to follow them now. He could +call for piggie when he had seen the princess; and again they pointed +out the house towards which they seemed to be hastening. + +Nono felt inclined to sit down and cry by the roadside. It suddenly +struck him that these were Philistines, quite of the scoffing, Goliath +sort; but he was not to be discouraged by them, not he! It would have +been rather awkward to appear before the princess, in her beautiful +home, with Blackie beside him. There was truth in that at least. +Perhaps those wild fellows meant well after all. They might have been +just teasing him, as "the little boys" teased Decima sometimes, though +they really loved her at the bottom. Yes, Decima! he must not forget +that it was for her he had undertaken it all. In such a good cause no +"Philistines" should make him afraid. He was so far safely on his way. +He must thank God and take courage. And he did. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE PRINCESS. + +Jan had given Nono the strictest injunctions to ask questions only of +policemen when he had once entered the great city. Of course Nono +implicitly obeyed, and so was soon able to find the palace. What a +grand building he thought it, and how beautiful the bright water about +it! He was sure the world could show nothing more charming than the +home of the Swedish king. + +Nono would have trembled at the idea of entering the royal palace if he +had not remembered that the good princess, his princess, was there. He +had a friend within the castle. Not that the palace looked at all like +a fortified castle. Its plain, square sides were pierced by long rows +of rectangular windows, while on the water-front two long white wings +shut in a quiet garden. In one of these wings, he had been told, the +princess had her home. A sentinel was at the entrance of the vast +courtyard through which he had learned he must pass. The guard looked +so imposing that Nono almost trembled as he took off his felt hat and +asked the way to the part of the palace where the princess lived. The +sentinel condescended to point his finger towards the colonnade under +which the desired door was to be found. + +A lady was just ringing the bell. Nono watched her, and then closely +imitated her movements. The door flew open for him, too, as it had +done for her. A dignified, gray-haired man, in a livery Nono +considered quite royal apparel, looked inquiringly at the little +visitor. Nono asked simply to see the princess about a matter of +importance. He was shown into a room, where a fair-haired lady gave +him a kindly reception, and told him her royal highness would see him +in a few moments. + +What rich moments of waiting those were for little Nono! He stood as +if on enchanted ground. From the wall looked out faces of gentlemen +and ladies in gorgeous array. Real people they seemed to be, though +silent and quiet, as, encircled by bright frames, they condescended to +be looked at by the wondering, admiring black eyes that were fixed upon +them. There, too, were bits of nature brought into that rich +room--flashing waterfalls, and quiet pastures, and golden skies through +which Nono almost fancied he could see the heaven beyond. + +Nono stepped on the soft carpet without a thought of its strangeness to +his rustic feet. A vision of beauty had been vouchsafed to him, and +his eyes glanced from picture to picture, now glistening with delight +and now lost in rapt admiration. + +The fair lady, who had been watching him with amusement, soon told him +that he might now go in to her royal highness, but only for a few +moments, as this was her morning for receiving the poor, and as she had +many to talk with her she was very tired. + +Nono saw nothing of the room into which he was now admitted, nothing +but the tall, slender, stooping figure that came forward to meet him. +The painters have liked to give the angels golden hair, but this was to +Nono a black-haired angel. Smooth, dark, glossy bands framed in the +high, full forehead, while the delicate chin made a corresponding point +below. The large brown eyes were full of loving light, and the thin +mouth smiled a welcome before the lips had spoken it. + +"What have you to say to me, my boy?" said the princess. A weary look +quickly clouded her face, and she sank suddenly into an easy-chair, +saying, "I have had many visitors to-day, so you must say quickly and +plainly what you have to tell me." + +"Perhaps I had better come another day," said Nono. It grieved him to +see his princess look so weak and worn. Recollecting himself, he +added, "But I don't see how I could, for I have come just for this a +long way--from near Aneholm Church." + +"Aneholm Church!" exclaimed the princess, brightening. "I once had a +dear friend who lived in that neighbourhood. What do you want to tell +me?" + +It was hard for Nono to make his story short. He must go back to the +bear, and how he came to the cottage, or the princess would not +understand why he loved Karin and little Decima so, and why he felt he +must help them. The princess must hear, too, about the accident, and +how it was almost his fault, because he had insisted on having Decima +out with the boys. + +The princess soon forgot her weariness. This was no common beggar, +with sycophant whine and forced civility. Nono spoke freely, frankly, +and trustfully. She was some one good and powerful, who, he was sure, +would gladly help him. His dark eyes looked into hers as he stood +before her, while his words sprang from his heart, and his hands and +his whole figure helped to illustrate his story. When he came to +little Decima, the sister whom the brothers loved and took care of, who +played with the boys, and was the pet and darling of all, the whole +face of the listener was aglow. + +"I was just such a little sister!" exclaimed the princess. "I never +played with a doll in my life. I was the special pet with one of my +brothers, who loved me very dearly. We romped and we painted, and we +made clay figures together. I know what a brother can be!" and the +tears for a moment filled her eyes. She dashed them away, and told +Nono to go on with his story. + +Nono wanted to say that he had seen a beautiful thing the princess had +made, and that was one reason why he felt so acquainted with her, but +he wisely kept to Decima and what he wanted for her. + +When the princess heard of Decima's misfortune, and of the big room +where all the family lived, the boys always leaving the door open to +blow on the little patient, her heart was quite melted, as it had been +many times before, as she compared her own comfort with the +surroundings of the sick poor. She herself had been long an invalid, +and often for months a prisoner in her beautiful rooms. She put out +her arm towards Nono, who had drawn near to her in his eagerness, and +was now close at her side. Affectionately her white slender hand was +laid on the boy's, as she said,-- + +"Yes, Nono, your little Decima shall have a place in my home for sick +children. I will have the permit made out at once, and she can come as +soon as 'Mother Karin' can send her." + +The princess spoke aside to the fair lady, who began to write the few +words that were necessary, but stopped to ask Nono the full name of the +patient. + +"Decima Desideria Persson," was the prompt reply. + +"Desideria!" said the princess, with a pleasant smile. "That was my +grandmother's name, so the little girl half belongs to me to take care +of." + +"We don't call her Desideria," said Nono truthfully. "She had that +name because it stands in the almanac, and seemed to sound well with +Decima, Mother Karin thought; and besides, she wanted the only little +girl to have a name-day to keep as well as the boys.". + +Again the pleasant smile came into the face of the princess. She wrote +in a free and flowing hand her signature to the permit, which was duly +placed in an envelope and given to Nono. + +"Since Decima Desideria is to be my guest, I must pay for her journey," +said the princess. + +Nono received the generous gift, and dared to kiss the hand that gave +it. He was too full of joy and gratitude to express himself fully by +his murmured thanks. + +"I understand you, Nono," said the princess. "You can go now. Perhaps +we shall meet again, some day; perhaps up there, if we both love the +dear Lord and try to be his true children." The thin hand made a sweep +upwards towards heaven, whither Nono, child as he was, felt that his +princess was going, all too soon for the mourning hearts she would +leave behind her. + +So ended Nono's visit to the royal palace. The princess sank wearily +back in her chair when the fair lady had gone out with Nono. On her +mild face there was a shadow that betokened something more than +weariness. That little boy she had trusted so implicitly while she +looked into his clear eyes, what if he should prove an impostor? She +had had her own bitter experience from the falsehoods of the apparently +needy. "No! Nono is not an impostor, I am sure," she said to herself. +"Little Decima, no doubt, ought to be taken care of immediately." A +slight smile came over her thoughtful face as she recalled the unusual +name. + +The dignified old servant now brought in the letters from the morning +mails. The first that the princess opened was in an unfamiliar hand. +A cloud of sadness came over her, as a friend long in heaven was +recalled to her mind. The colonel had written, not to renew the sorrow +of the princess by reminding her of his lovely wife, but to say that he +had accidentally heard of Nono's departure, without credentials or +recommendations of any kind to insure her confidence. The letter +guaranteed the truthfulness and honesty of the boy, and contained warm +words in favour of the family at the golden house. + +The good princess was glad to be acquitted of rashness in her promise, +and was once more encouraged to love and to trust, and to give freely +out of her abundance. + +Little Nono had started cheerily on his homeward journey, grateful at +heart. He was hopeful as to finding Blackie at the house where he had +been assured his pet would be awaiting his return from the palace. +Nono was met there by rude answers to his eager inquiries, and was told +that no one had seen anything of a little black pig, nor did any one on +those premises wish to see anything more of a little dark boy full of +impudent questions. There was a sweep of meadows about the house, and +no other dwelling was near the spot. + +Nono could but disconsolately begin again his homeward walk, and try to +forget his pet in the thought of the future opening before little +Decima. He betook himself to the highroad, and trudged along as +cheerily as he could. Drops of blood on the snow suddenly arrested his +attention. They formed a regular line leading into the far distance, +where a familiar black object was getting over the ground at a +marvellous rate. It must be Blackie! Nono gave a long whistle by +which he was accustomed to call his four-footed friend. The black +object stopped. The whistle was repeated, and in a few moments the +little pig was awkwardly capering about his master, almost tying his +tail into knots, as it was twisted round and round as an expression of +delight. + +Blackie had evidently escaped from confinement and uncongenial society. +Where he had been, of course he could not tell. His poor nose was +sadly torn where the ring had been wrenched away as he broke loose from +his imprisonment. Nono was glad that Blackie had lost his badge of +servitude; and as to needing a rope to be led by, the poor creature was +willing enough to follow Nono wherever he might choose to lead him. A +kind countryman returning from the city with an empty waggon gave the +odd pair a good lift, and took them along so rapidly that towards +evening they reached the shoemaker's cottage. Nono thought best to be +set down there, and he was hardly on the ground with Blackie beside him +when there was an impromptu concert of singing and scolding that +brought the inmates of the house at once to the door. + +Of course the travellers were warmly welcomed. There was great +eagerness to hear Nono's adventures, and he was at once besieged with +all sorts of questions. When he had told his story, the shoemaker got +up and bowed respectfully to the absent princess, whom Nono had so +vividly described that she seemed actually standing there in the +cottage. "There be some good people left in high places!" exclaimed +honest Crispin. "It's of no use talking against the royal family while +such a princess is above ground." So some dim socialistic ideas that +had been troubling the mind of the poor shoemaker died a violent death, +and the warm loyalty of his youth took the upper hand. + +Nono and Blackie were hospitably housed for the night, and treated +almost as if they were ambassadors from court, with a flavour of +royalty about them. + +It is needless to tell with what joy the travellers were received the +next day at the golden house, or what rapid preparations were made for +Decima's departure. The princess should see that Jan and Karin were +prompt to avail themselves of her kindness. + +Jan took an unusual holiday, and actually was for the first time in a +railroad car, with Decima cuddled close at his side. + +Decima Desideria, who had a keen sense of her own fitness to come to +honour, really seemed to think the children's hospital had been +established for her special benefit, and that her presence there, and +the ado that had been made about her, were quite natural matters, with +which gratitude had very little connection. Once made mistress of one +of the little white beds, and surrounded by every comfort, her +arrogance and her exactions would probably have known no bounds, if she +had not wonderingly seen about her from day to day deformed children, +suffering children, and almost idiots, as tenderly cared for as +herself. It somehow came into her head to be thankful that she at +least had but to lie in her bed, without great pain, that she could +understand all that was said to her, and could even be learning to knit +and crochet, which she was doing with extreme satisfaction. + +How Decima longed to see the good princess! When at last that +much-talked-of princess came and stood by her bed, and beamed down love +and tenderness, the little invalid was softened into real gratitude, +which she managed brokenly to express, with tears in her eyes. Then +the kind princess talked to her cheerfully and naturally of the great +Shepherd of the lambs, as of some one whom she knew and who was really +dear to her. + +At the golden house religion had been lived and inculcated; at the +hospital it seemed the felt, ever-pervading atmosphere. Heavenly +comfort was sung in the sweet hymns, breathed in the trustful prayers, +spoken of as something always in mind, and acted out in the sweet +offices of love towards the unfortunate. Such surroundings were +life-giving to the poor little invalid. Her fretfulness gave way, and +a sweet quietness succeeded her nervous irritation. After the weary +turmoil of the past in the noisy, crowded home, there was now a serene +peace for her, as if the angels had taken her under their sheltering +wings. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +WHERE? + +Alma was sitting in her own room, with her treasure-house before her. +Its door was still fast locked, as was her purse for all applications +for pecuniary help. Closed, too, seemed the door of her heart to the +great Friend who still lovingly knocked without. His question, "Where +is the guest-room?" had been met by a long, unbroken silence. + +Now Alma's mind was on her future plans. She had shaken the little +cottage, and had been quite dissatisfied with the result. She rose +hastily. A drawer in her writing-desk was impulsively unlocked. She +took out a jewel-case where a diamond ring, and a brooch set with the +same precious stones, and a watch with a monogram in pearls, were lying +side by side. She looked admiringly at them, and carefully examined +them all. The ring, the brooch, and the little watch were then +deliberately let down the chimney of the golden house, as if they had +been black sweeps on a lawful errand. They were given, "offered," she +felt, and her design was now far on its way to its accomplishment. +There could be no more earthquake-like shakings of that cottage. That +amusement must be abandoned. + +There was a sharp prick from Alma's conscience in the midst of her +evident satisfaction. Her father had said this jewellery would some +day belong to her, and had even, at her special request, allowed her to +have the now sacrificed treasures in her own keeping. "They were to be +mine. They _are_ mine," she said to herself. "I have offered them. I +shall never wear them now. My mother in heaven would approve of what I +have done." Here her conscience gave her a cruel pang. She was +inclined to open again the velvet-lined box, and lay the jewellery +where it had so long rested, but that was impossible without opening +the little locked door of the treasure-house. That she had vowed to +herself she would not do before the time appointed--a time she was now +most anxious should soon arrive. + +At this moment Alma heard the sound of footsteps. She thrust the case +into its drawer, locked it and dropped the key into her pocket like one +disturbed in a dishonest act rather than in a noble deed. There was a +loud knock at the door. Alma opened it, and Frans stood before her. + +"What do you want here?" she said impatiently. + +"I can't find papa," said Frans. "I wanted to tell him that it went +'bully' for me at the examination this morning. I thought perhaps your +highness might like to know it too. The teachers seem to think I shall +stand 'tip-top' in my report." + +"I don't believe you will deserve it," said Alma sharply. "I never see +you studying." + +"But I have studied lately, more than I ever studied in my life. I +didn't go to bed a single night last week before one o'clock." + +"You ought to be ashamed to tell it!" said Alma reprovingly. "You know +papa don't allow you to sit up late." + +"I shall tell him about it myself, and I know papa will excuse me," +said Frans, in high spirits. + +The colonel did excuse Frans, and was delighted to hear of his success, +though he did not fail to say it was hard to make up by such forced +studying for neglect during the term, and a thing that he hoped would +never be needed again. + +Frans was in a glorious good-humour during the short time he allowed +himself for lunch, and made his pony fly as he hurried back to school +immediately afterwards. + +The school was in a village about twenty minutes' ride from the +colonel's home. The afternoon session was over, and yet Frans did not +return. The colonel was very anxious about his son. He feared that he +had been induced to celebrate his success in some wild frolic, and sent +in a messenger to search after him. + +The report came back that Frans had done very badly at school during +the latter part of the day, and had ridden off at full speed, evidently +in a very bad humour at his failure. + +Later in the evening the pony came home, riderless, and sorrow settled +on the household at Ekero. + +"It is only some foolish trick that Frans is playing upon us!" Alma had +said at first, but as the hours wore away she too had become really +anxious. + +The colonel, who went himself at once to the village, came home late, +discouraged and distressed. Telegraphing and sending off messengers in +every direction had been in vain. The morning brought terrible news. +A theft had been committed in a shop near the schoolhouse the evening +before, and an older pupil of bad repute had disappeared. It was +generally whispered that he and Frans had gone off together. + +Alma's feelings can easily be imagined. Shame, anger, righteous +indignation, and real distress were strangely mingled together. Her +father left home as soon as these horrible rumours were told him. Alma +was alone all day, save when she was called on to hear the moans of the +housekeeper over her "dear boy who had gone wrong; such a sweet boy as +he had always been towards her." + +At such a mention of himself Frans would have been much astonished, as +this faithful friend of the family had not failed to set his +shortcomings fully before him. She now reproached Alma for not making +home more pleasant for her brother, for "worrying and worrying at him +until he had no peace of his life. Such a knowing boy as he was, too, +with the ways and doings of beasts and birds at his tongue's end. As +for the Swedish kings, he could tell stories about them all a long +midsummer day, if a body had patience to listen. And _he_ not do well +at an examination!" and the housekeeper snapped her fingers in contempt +of the whole pedagogical corps. + +To these various forms of lamenting Alma listened in convicted silence. +She was glad of any company in the dismal loneliness of the house, and +felt she deserved much blame, if not all the burden of responsibility +that was cast upon her, for Frans's misdoings. + +The colonel had been unwearied in his efforts to find his son; but when +he was at last convinced that he had gone off in company with a boy +suspected of actual theft, he would not seek for his son to be brought +home to public trial and possible conviction. The authorities might +find the boys if they could, he would take no further steps in the +matter. + +The colonel locked himself into his room, and not even Alma's gentle +knock was answered. Like the housekeeper, he had a deep sense of +Alma's coldness and bitterness towards her brother, and he understood +how Frans must have dreaded to meet her after his disgrace at the +examination. He understood, too, how much Frans must have feared his +displeasure; but that such a mother's son should be so degraded as to +consort with a thief and possibly share his guilt! The thought was +madness. He pictured the desperate boy, flying perhaps to a far +country, to suffer, and sin and go down to the lowest depths of +degradation. The prayer burst forth from the depths of the colonel's +heart, "God have mercy on my son! God have mercy on me, a sinner!" +There was a thoroughgoing penitence in that closed room. The colonel's +whole life stood before him, with all its shortcomings and its sins. +To the world it had been an outwardly blameless life, but within there +had been an uncertain faith, a half-heartedness, an indecision in his +inner life, that ill befitted one who so well knew the love and purity +of his heavenly Father. He cast himself upon his knees, to rise +forgiven, and strengthened to lead a decided, devoted Christian life. +With his own humiliation came back his tenderness towards his absent, +erring boy. + +When the door was opened at last to Alma, she saw the traces of sorrow +and deep emotion on her father's face. She threw herself into his +arms, exclaiming, "Dear, dear papa!" She could say no more. He gently +closed the door by which she had entered. No human being ever knew the +words that then passed between them, but they were henceforward to be +bound together by a new and a holier tie than ever before. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE BIRTHDAY GIFT. + +In the midst of the shadow over the household at Ekero, Alma's birthday +had come. No festivities could be thought of. No birthday table was +decked for her with flowers and gifts. Her father had not even +remembered the fact that she was now eighteen years old until the +evening came on. The housekeeper, a thorough Swede in all things, +could not forget such an anniversary; but she was in no mood towards +Alma to prompt to any particular kindness in that direction, or any +festal preparations. + +The father and daughter were sitting quietly together in the study in +the evening. "Alma," he began, "I have just remembered that it must be +your birthday. It has been a sad, neglected birthday for you, my +child; but it shall not pass altogether without notice. Give me the +jewel-case that has been in your charge, and the key too, dear. I +have, of course, meant that you should have these things that were so +peculiarly associated with your dear mother's younger days. The watch +you can wear at once, as your own does not seem to keep good time. +Hers was an excellent time-keeper, and it will remind you to be exact +and true, and gentle and holy, like your dear mother. I shall take +real pleasure in seeing you wear it. Go, daughter, at once! I am glad +I thought of something that will please you on your birthday." + +Alma obeyed mechanically, and returned quickly with the empty case in +her hand, hoping that when the critical moment came she should be able +to explain herself satisfactorily. She gave the casket into her +father's hands, and waited in a silence so natural under the +circumstances that he did not notice it. + +There was no sparkle from the dark cushions, but a sudden, astonished +sparkle in the colonel's eyes. "Empty, Alma! What does this mean?" he +exclaimed. + +"I have given them away," she said, blushing very deeply. + +"Given them away!" repeated the colonel, slowly and sternly. + +"I have given them for a good object, very dear to my heart. I am sure +you would approve of it. Please, papa, do not ask me any more about it +now. I do not want to tell you yet. It is a secret. I have promised, +just to myself, and almost to God, never to tell any one until a +certain thing is accomplished--until I can fully succeed." + +"What is the matter with you, child? Have you lost your senses? You +had no right to give away things intrusted to your care. I have told +you that, by your mother's simple will, all she had was left at my +disposition. Am I to be disappointed in both my children?" and the +colonel bowed his head upon his hands. + +"Dear papa, you are not to be disappointed in me! I have done nothing +wrong." Here Alma's conscience gave her a sharp prick. Suddenly she +broke out, after a moment's pause, "I want to be like the princess. I +am sure that would please you, papa! You know she sold her jewels for +a home for the sick poor." + +The colonel answered seriously: "The princess is a saintly woman, and +you would do well to follow her example. She sold her jewels to build +a home for the aged sick, but she did not do it, princess and grown +woman as she was, until she had asked the consent of her mother and her +brother the king. What have you done, my child? What have you been +thinking of? You must explain yourself fully. I have a right to +demand it!" + +Alma again left the room, to return with the little yellow house in her +hands. "Here is my savings-box, papa," she said; "Nono made it for me." + +A flush of pleasure came over the face of the colonel. "So exactly +like Karin's cottage!" he exclaimed. "What a clever little boy! I +like him." + +"I thought--I thought," said Alma, encouraged by her father's smile--"I +thought I would like to have a home for sick little children. I wanted +to save my money to do something really good and lasting, instead of +fooling it away by giving a little here and there, that did not after +all do much good to anybody. I have saved all I could, and have given +nothing away for anything else, but it went very slowly, and then I +thought of those ornaments that were to be mine, and--I really did not +think you would care." Here Alma blushed, and added, "I hoped you +would not mind!" and her tears fell fast. + +"My poor child!" said the colonel, as he put his arm around her and +drew her to his side. "So this is the explanation of the change that +had passed over you, and had given me so much pain!--my little Alma, +who loved so dearly to give, and who has lately been so hard and cold +that the very idea of an appeal from a poor family seemed to close her +heart and stiffen her face into determined opposition. You cannot be a +princess, dear, and do some great thing. I am afraid there was more +pride than holy love in your plan. You should not think of yourself +when you want to do good, but of your heavenly Master and his suffering +brothers. Remember that! That was your dear mother's way. Self +seemed dead in her. If she could but have lived to teach you by her +beautiful example! It is not in seeking to do some great thing that we +are in the right path. The little things that come to us day by day +and hour by hour are safest for most Christians, and surely so for +beginners. Where is the key to this locked little house?" + +Alma produced the key at once, and placed it in her father's hands. He +might open that small door if he pleased. She fancied it would be +almost wrong to do it herself. + +The door was opened, and there, among small coins and great, lay the +jewels. The crystal of the watch had been broken by some falling +contribution. The colonel took the watch in his hand, and said,-- + +"This can easily be repaired. You must wear it constantly; and may it +remind you that the best gifts to God are those that are offered +humbly, modestly, with no thought of self, and with no desire for the +praise of man. If the little watch can so remind you of your duty, it +will be a holy messenger to you, and so in a way set apart to the +service of God. You have unwisely given, as you thought, the diamonds +to the poor. We will not take them back. Your dear mother had not +herself worn them for many years. They shall be sold, and you may send +the money anonymously to any hospital for children where help is +needed. So you will keep your motives. With the money lying in the +little cottage you can have the joy of helping the suffering poor; but +you had better consult with me as to how to use it. It is not to be +thrown away now lavishly on every applicant, to do perhaps more harm +than good. Lay the jewels in the case and lock the door of the little +cottage." He was going to add, "Remember, Alma, that one kind word +from you to your brother is a better offering for you than much money +given in charity." The words were not spoken. He but said, "Poor +Frans! where is he? God help my boy!" + +Alma put her arm round her father's neck and whispered, "Dear papa, if +Frans comes home--when he comes home, I do really mean to be more kind +to him than ever before; but he--" + +"No 'buts,' Alma," said the father. "However far wrong your brother +has gone, he is still your brother, your only brother, and it will be +your duty to love him, and pray for him, and watch over him with tender +affection. He has no mother. You must be to him all that a good +sister can be." + +"Papa!" said Alma, deeply moved, "you are too gentle towards me. I do +not deserve it. I half felt all the while that I might be doing wrong +about those things that did not really belong to me. I see it now very +plainly. I would not listen to my conscience. I see I had a foolish +pride in what I was trying to do. I did not see it clearly then, but +now I know I was taking possession of what did not really belong to +me--I who have been so angry with Frans, so ashamed even to think of +him as my brother! I don't know what I should have been if I had +fallen into temptation, and had had a bad companion to lead me on! +Please, please, papa, forgive me! I know you do; but I cannot forgive +myself! I am sure the sight of dear mamma's watch ought always to make +me humble." + +"May God help you and keep you from all evil!" said the father +solemnly, as he kissed his daughter and bade her good-night. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +SPECTACLES. + +The news of the disappearance of Frans had brought gloom to the golden +house. There he had been lovingly received, and had appeared at his +best. Nono was clear in his mind that Frans had had nothing to do with +the theft, however wrong he might have done in running away and causing +his friends such painful anxiety. + +Jan shut his mouth firmly and went about in determined silence. Karin +cried as if it had been her own boy who had gone wrong. + +"He hasn't had any mother to look after him," said Nono, and he patted +Karin tenderly. "If you could have had him it would have been quite +different, I am sure." + +"That is a fact," said one of the twins. + +"A solid fact!" echoed the other. + +Karin smiled for a moment kindly, and then said soberly, "If only Uncle +Pelle were here! I should so like to know what he would say." + +Old Pelle had gone on his pedestrian trip. Not that he had any +sportsman accoutrements, or used any slang as to the particulars of his +expedition. In one respect he was prepared for his excursion on the +strictest modern principles. He was lightly equipped as to clothing, +and in woollen garments from top to toe. Better still, he had a light +heart within, and a thankful one. He was out on a pleasant errand. + +Pelle was now a settled resident in the parish where the golden cottage +stood, with occupation pledged to him while he had strength to work, +and a support as long as life lasted. The colonel had settled that +matter; and Karin rejoiced to see the shadows cleared from the old +man's future, with the bright prospect of his continuing to be "a +blessing" to them, as she said, "while he was above the green grass." + +Pelle had left a few trifles at the poorhouse, where he had been +grudgingly received during his last long attack of serious illness. He +had before been unable to make up his mind to go after his small +belongings. There had been lingering in the depths of his heart a germ +of bitterness about the whole affair, and he had been afraid it might +spring into strong life if he returned to see the old place again. Now +the rankling, tormenting thoughts had vanished in the sunshine that had +come to him, and he was sure it would be pleasant to see the familiar +scenes again, and to take well-known people by the hand in a friendly +way, and let bygones be bygones. + +Pelle had been rowed over to the opposite side of the bay, to avoid an +unnecessary bit of walking; and now that he was expected home, Nono was +sent across the water to meet him. Nono was already in the boat and +taking up the oars, when Alma came strolling along the shore with her +hands full of wild flowers, for she had been botanizing. "Let me row +with you," she said eagerly to Nono. + +"Yes," said Nono; "I am going after Uncle Pelle. But the boat--" and +he looked at Alma's light dress, and then at the traces left of the +last trip of the fishermen to whom the boat belonged. + +"Never mind that," said Alma cheerily. "I can manage my dress, and I +do so love to row." She seated herself and took up a pair of oars. + +It was a long pull across the bay, and they were only half over when +they saw a sail-boat in front of them, making for the wider part of the +inlet. + +"Not very good sailors, I think," said Nono critically, for Pelle had +taught him how to trim a sail. He had hardly spoken the word when a +flaw struck the little skiff they were watching, and it capsized +instantly. There was a loud shriek from the place of the accident, and +a groan from Nono and Alma. They could soon see two heads, and arms +clinging to the upturned boat. Alma and Nono rowed desperately towards +the spot, but made slow progress, as the bay had suddenly grown rough, +and the wind was contrary. They could distinguish the faces now. One +was unknown, but Alma's eyes grew large and full of anguish as she +recognized her brother. "It is Frans!" she said to Nono. + +"Yes," was his only reply, and they pulled with even more determination +than before. In a few moments Frans and his companion were taken on +board by Alma and Nono. + +"Frans!" said Alma, as she laid her hand in his, "I was so afraid--I +was so afraid we should not reach you in time. You can swim; why +didn't you start out for us?" + +"Knut here can't swim, and of course I couldn't leave him. I knew I +couldn't keep him up and make my way to you. It was better for us to +hold fast as long as we could." + +A well-manned boat was now seen coming towards them from the shore. +The strong rowers soon brought it to their side. Knut looked meaningly +at Frans, but was silent. + +"We must have those young fellows," said the person in command, who was +evidently an officer of justice. + +The dripping boys changed their quarters without a word. Frans turned +and looked at Alma as the boat he had entered headed for the shore. +"Thank you, sister," he called out; "you rowed like a man!" + +He had never called her "sister" before. Alma's eyes filled with +tears. She moved as if to row after her brother. + +"Uncle Pelle will be expecting us. I think I see him there waiting," +said Nono. "We must go for him." Nono was decided. This was the +errand on which he was sent, and the duty must be done, even though +Miss Alma might be displeased with him. Alma looked impatient, but +after a moment she began to move her pair of oars willingly as she +said, "You are right, Nono," and relapsed into silence. + +When Pelle came on board, Nono did not say anything about what had +happened until Pelle himself, who had seen the whole from the shore, +asked what it all meant, and who the boys were who had so mismanaged +their boat, "green hands" as he could see. + +"You can tell him, Nono," said Alma. "He will have to know it all. +But I am so glad Frans was not drowned!" + +Alma looked straight forward over the water, while Nono, as kindly as +he could, told in a few words all the sad story to Pelle, who listened +in silence; but towards the close a strange gleam of intelligence came +into his eyes. Pelle never talked if he were not in the humour, and +now Nono was not surprised that no answer came from the old man's +firmly-closed lips. + +Alma was the first to step ashore. With a hurried nod to her +companions she moved off swiftly towards her home. + +"Now pull for town--pull, Nono!" said Pelle, with unusual energy, +taking up himself the oars that Alma had laid down. + +Pull they did, tired as were Nono's young arms, and feeble as were +Pelle's. The distance was short by water, and the two were soon at the +magistrate's office, where Pelle expected to find the delinquent boys. +They were already there. Their wet clothes had been changed, and they +were for the moment in private conversation with the colonel, who had +been summoned immediately on their arrival. + +In the pocket of the dripping coat that had been worn by Frans a bundle +of the missing bank-notes had been found, carelessly rolled in a bit of +yellow wrapping-paper. This all the by-standers about the door had +heard, for the proceedings at the country seat of justice seem to be +considered to belong to the small public of the neighbourhood. + +While Pelle was waiting without, Nono having been sent back at once +with the boat, the colonel was holding Frans by the hand, and talking +to him from the depths of his stirred paternal heart. + +"I have you, Frans, as one alive from the dead, and so I must talk to +you," said the colonel solemnly. "Don't answer me; don't speak a word, +Frans!--And you, boy," and he turned towards Knut, "keep quiet. No +excuses; no explanations from either of you!--I want to say to you, +Frans, what I should have longed to say to you if you had sunk in that +deep water. I have not watched over you as I should, my boy. I take +my share in the blame of what you have done. I have been too wrapped +up in my own sorrows, my own ill-health, and my own melancholy +reflections, to be to you what I ought to have been. I find I love you +most intensely, and your loss would have been a terrible blow to me. +Your bright face gone for ever from the home would have made it dreary +indeed. You have caused me great sorrow by running away, and have, I +fear, been guilty of that for which the law must punish you." + +[Illustration: Frans admonished.] + +Frans stirred as if about to speak. + +"Silence!" said his father sternly. "The missing bank-notes were some +of them found in your coat pocket. You had no such money when you left +home; you will be called on to account for its being there." + +Frans stared speechlessly at his father, and then looked at his +companion. + +"He's been free with money since we were out," said Knut; "but I +supposed such high-fliers had always no end of cash on hand, and never +suspected anything more than the boys' frolic we started out for when +we found it had gone contrary for us at school." + +"Papa!" began Frans eagerly. + +At the moment an officer came in to say, "There is an old man +outside--old Pelle everybody calls him--who says he _must_ see the +boys; that it is most important for them." The magistrate and Pelle +and several other solemn-looking individuals entered the room. + +Pelle looked first at Frans and then at his companion. The strange +gleam came again into his eyes as he bowed to all present and asked to +be allowed to tell his story. Permission to speak was authoritatively +given him, and he began,-- + +"About four hours ago I was standing by the bay, up at Trolleudden, +when I saw that young fellow," pointing at Knut, "come up to a chap who +had a sail-boat there to let to the summer villa people. The boy +wanted a boat for a trip down the bay. He was willing to pay +handsomely, he said, and he did, with a bank-note, though he didn't +look as if he were much used to handling that sort of thing. I somehow +thought there must be something wrong about it. Then I went up to the +little inn to get a glass of milk and a bit of bread. When I came into +the sitting-room, there was a boy there, who sat with his arms on the +table, and his head on his hands, with his hat tipped down so over his +eyes that I couldn't see his face. He was dressed like a workman, with +a leather apron on, and a coarse shirt, and an old overcoat outside, +though it was so warm I was glad to go in my flannel sleeves. There +was something queer about the boy. I could see his hands. They were +not very clean, to be sure, but they didn't look as if they had seen +much real work. I soon got through thinking about the boy, who seemed +to be asleep. I finished my bread and milk, and took out my book to +read while I rested, and quite forgot where I was. Suddenly I heard +somebody steal into the room, tiptoe up, and stand behind me. I kept +quite still, but on the watch, for I felt all was not right. As I +looked into my spectacles I saw who it was that was so near me. Often +in church I see the person who is standing behind me. I don't know how +it is, but I do, as if my spectacles were a looking-glass. I didn't +like the sly, bad face right before my eyes. I could not help seeing +it between me and the book, and I knew it was the lad who had hired the +boat. In a second an arm was stretched forward towards the boy who was +sitting very near me, the other side of the corner of the table, and a +little yellow parcel was tucked into the pocket of his great-coat. I +had nothing to say in the matter, and did not let on that I noticed it. +It might be some young folks' frolic. I am not used to meddle in other +people's business, but I generally know what goes on round me. The +face went out of my spectacles, and the door shut quietly. I finished +my reading and went out. Those boys I have not seen again to know them +till I meet the very same here." + +"What were you reading?" asked the magistrate sternly. + +"This book," said old Pelle, taking out his worn paper-covered "Thomas +a Kempis," and handing it to the gentleman, who returned it without a +word, but ordered the wet clothes of the boys to be brought in. "I +don't know those things, surely," said Pelle, pointing to the larger +suit, "but should say that might be the leather apron the younger boy +had on. I couldn't be sure either of the coat, but the striped shirt +is just like the wrist-band that showed as the boy had his arms on the +table, as he was asleep or pretended to be." + +"The roll of bank-notes was found in that coat, wrapped up in a bit of +yellow paper," said the magistrate. "You may sit down, Pelle." + +The magistrate then solemnly called on Frans to speak for himself. + +"I know nothing at all about the money," he said. "I heard somebody +coming in at the inn, and put down my head at once, and tipped my hat +forward to hide my face. I did not look up again until I had heard the +person beside me stir and then go out. I believe I had dozed a little, +but I can't be sure." + +Knut, when questioned, denied having seen old Pelle at all, and +declared that it was probable the whole story had been made up after +the old man had heard outside that the notes were found in Frans's +pocket. As if anybody could see who was behind him by looking into his +own spectacles! It had been a bad business going off with Frans, and +he was very sorry for it. He had found Frans in such a taking about +his bad report, ashamed and afraid to go home, and talking of working +his way as a sailor over the ocean. "Of course I went with him, and +tried to take care of him," said Knut, "and this is my reward! Frans +and that old fellow have been regular 'chums.' I have often seen them +together. Of course 'the quality' would have somebody to turn the +world upside down to help them. Frans has his own father, but I"--here +Knut sobbed audibly--"a poor widow's son, have nobody to stand by me. +If my _poor_ mother were here, what could she do for me? But she is +far back in the country, not knowing what her boy has come to by trying +to help a young scamp who had got into a tight place." + +There was much sympathy for Knut in the little assembly, and "Poor +fellow! poor fellow!" had been murmured by more than one listener as he +went on. + +"See out of the back of his head!" continued Knut, "or in his +spectacles, as he says! Likely! Better try him," he boldly concluded. + +"A good suggestion," said the magistrate. + +The court-room seemed suddenly changed into a playroom for grown +people. Pelle was placed on a chair, now here and now there, while +different people were placed behind him, and he was called on to say +who was leaning towards his shoulder. + +Pelle looked and looked in vain. The spectacles told no tales. A +sneer went round the room again and again, and Knut was heard to +chuckle as he said, "Of course he made up the whole story. That any +one in his senses could believe it!" + +Pelle was discomfited. At last he said falteringly, "I have told the +truth. I did see that face in my spectacles, but I don't see anything +now. It has happened to me many times in church on Sunday morning. I +am sure I could do it where I sit in the church." + +"Why not let him try it in the church?" said the colonel. "I am sure +the pastor would give his permission." + +The experiment in the church was arranged for the next morning. + +Frans and his companion were left in custody for the night, and the +colonel went home with a sad heart, but not without some hope that his +son would be proved to be innocent. For it was true that Frans had +been much at the golden house, and was a great favourite there, and it +was not impossible that the temptation to free him had been too strong +for Pelle to resist. + +The morning came, and at eleven o'clock there was an unusual gathering +in the parish church. The stillness round the marble sleepers on the +monumental tombs was broken, not by the sound of prayer and praise, but +by the low hush of murmuring voices and the tramp of eager feet. Pelle +came quietly in and took his usual seat. He bowed his head, just from +habit, then followed a silent petition, not for a blessing on the +services of the sanctuary, but that the innocent might be defended and +the guilty brought to justice. + +He raised himself up and sat down, intending to wait for further +orders. He suddenly said in a sharp voice, "Take off your hat, Adam or +Enos!" and then turned unconsciously to look behind him. Yes, there +stood one of the twins, which he could not say, his mouth wide with +delight, while a murmur went round, "He was right this time!" + +"Of course it was all planned before at the cottage," said a dissenting +voice. + +"I don't plan to have boys stand in the church with their hats on," +said Pelle. + +"I ordered the boy to take his place there myself," said the magistrate. + +Again and again the experiment was tried, and with success, even the +pastor and the magistrate curiously taking their turn in the +performance; Pelle then, most respectfully stating whom he had had the +honour to see, bowing as he did so. + +At last all present were fully convinced that Pelle had spoken the +truth, and he was conducted in a kind of triumphal procession back to +the cottage. + +The question was everywhere agitated, "What is to 'come of' Pelle's +testimony?" The fate of the boys was not to be altogether decided by +him. + +The authorized messengers who had been sent to the little inn where +Pelle had stopped came back with the innkeeper and the owner of the +boat that had been hired by the boys. From them it was easily learned +that the culprits had been seen at the time mentioned by Pelle, and had +been considered suspicious strangers, especially the older lad, who was +foolishly free with his money, and had a bold, bad look about him. The +younger boy was described as cast down, and evidently not on good terms +with his companion. + +The case did not come to a public trial. A large part of the money +taken had been recovered, the note paid for the boat being identified +as one of the missing bills. The merchant who had been robbed declined +prosecuting the offender, as his loss was fully made good to him by the +colonel. It was, however, exacted in the agreement that Knut should be +sent out of the country at once. + +The pastor took Knut home with him, and gave him such a kind, serious +talk that the poor lad's heart was quite melted, and he, sincere for +the time at least, promised to try to lead a better life. + +"He will only go to ruin if he is sent to prison," Pelle had said. +"May God help the boy in his own way! I will try to help him in mine. +Who knows what I might have been if I had kept on as a sailor!" So +Pelle, for the time a prominent man, went round in the neighbourhood +and collected money enough to send the guilty boy over the Atlantic to +begin life again in the far West. + +Karin wrote a short letter to her "son in America," full of love to +Erik, and with a request that he would do what he could for Knut to +help him on in the right way. Oke penned a full description of the +whole affair, which he declared was written so plainly that anybody +ought to understand it, let alone a Swede like Erik, born in the best +country in the world, though he did now seem to be more than half an +American. + +A neat suit of clothes had been sent to Frans by the careful +housekeeper, so that he looked quite like himself when he took his seat +beside his father for his homeward drive. + +Oke had made haste to tell all the neighbourhood of the success of +Pelle in the church, and Alma had had her share of the good news. +Whether Frans would be allowed to return home with his father she had +not yet heard. She sat anxiously watching at the window, when there +was a sound of carriage-wheels in the avenue. There were two persons +in the carriage! Yes, one was certainly Frans! + +Alma ran down to the veranda. "Dear, dear Frans! I am so glad to see +you!" she exclaimed, as she put her arm around him; and so they +followed their father into the house. + +"Thank you, sister!" he answered, with a quivering lip. He could say +no more. + +The colonel went into the library and closed the door, and Frans and +his sister were left together. They went back to the veranda and sat +down side by side, Frans still struggling to gain self-command. + +"Dear brother," began Alma, "I am so sorry I have been a cross, +disagreeable sister to you. I mean to be better. I shall try, and you +must forgive me if I fail, and am cross to you sometimes." + +"Don't speak so, sister," said Frans, interrupting her. "You do not +know what you have been to me. You have kept me from much that is +wrong. When I have been with the boys, and have been tempted to speak +and do as some of them did, I have thought of you. 'What would Alma +say to such talk and such doings?' would come into my mind and help me +to resist temptation. I have thought of you as something higher, +holier, purer than myself. And such a good scholar, too! I have +always been proud of my sister. You found fault with me, of course. I +deserved it, poor, thoughtless fellow that I have been. I cannot be +like you, Alma, but I am really going to try to be better. I have done +with idle ways and bad companions. I did not know what Knut really was +until we came to be constantly together, and then, bad as I was, I +thanked God that I had had such a father and such a sister and such a +home. It is only God's mercy that has saved me from a prison. I had +no way to prove my innocence. What I have suffered you can understand, +but I deserved it all. I have been doing badly all the term. I tried +to make it up at the last. All went well with me in the morning, but +in the afternoon I was so worn out and so tired and dull that I could +not command myself to say what I really knew. Of course I made a +miserable failure. I was afraid to meet my father and ashamed to see +your face when I had come out so badly. I did the worst thing I could +do. I added wrong to wrong, not thinking of all the worry and trouble +I was making. I was quite desperate when I met Knut, and he proposed +that we should go off together. I caught at the plan.--Listen. When I +was hanging, clinging to the boat, in that deep water, so far from the +shore, my whole life came before me; and what a worthless life it was! +I seemed shut out from heaven. I felt so miserable and hopeless and +wretched! Then I saw you coming over the water. You looked so pale +and slight, but you worked like a man. Then I understood that you +loved me, that you really cared for me, and would forgive me. I did +not know then of the dreadful thing of which I was suspected, but you +did, and you and dear father were willing to forgive me. That helped +me afterwards to understand that I might try to lead a new life, and to +believe our heavenly Father too could forgive me, and willingly give me +strength to do better." + +Alma had several times tried to speak, but Frans had laid his hand +pleadingly on hers as he went on. Now she said solemnly, "Thank God, +Frans! we are to begin our new life together. I have not been the true +Christian you seem to have thought me, in spite of my very wrong way +towards you. I feel that I have set you a very bad example. We must +help each other now." + +"_You_ must help me," said Frans soberly; then starting up, he +exclaimed, "But I am forgetting Marie, who has always been so kind to +me. You can't think how many messages she managed to send me when I +was in town in disgrace, and little things to eat, too, that she +thought I would like." + +Marie was lingering in the hall, listening not to catch the words of +the conversation going on without, but enjoying the satisfaction of +hearing the voice of her "dear boy," as she called him, once more in +his own home. She had made up her mind, however, to reprove him +sharply for causing them all so much trouble. When, however, she saw +him looking so humble and sorrowful, so little like himself, she had no +reproaches for him, but took his offered hand affectionately, and +exclaimed, "You dear boy!" as if he had been a little child. + +And Frans felt like a child--a naughty child; but a child forgiven, and +resolved to do better. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +QUESTIONINGS. + +Another spring had come to the golden house. Such a little family as +Karin now had! She quite mourned over it. The twins had gone to +America; Erik had written for them. He had now a good place on a farm, +where there was work for two such "hands" as he was sure Adam and Enos +must be, raised in such a home. The twins had been good teachers of +the Swedish language in their way, the best way, by example; and Erik +was soon able to write a letter again that could be understood at the +golden house without a translator. He wrote that the twins were the +admiration of the country round, and his pride too. So Karin was +thankful; but she missed the big, boisterous fellows, and said she felt +like an old table trying to stand on three legs, with only Thor and +Sven and Nono at home. + +Pelle and Nono still had many cozy talks together, for which the boy +was much wiser and the old man much happier. But the time came when +the little Italian had a real sorrow. + +Up in Stockholm the solemn bells were ringing, and mourning garments +and mourning hats were everywhere. In stately mansions and in dreary +attics real tears of sorrow were shed. The good princess was dead. In +the palace, in a grand apartment all draped in black, lay her silent, +wasted body, on a pompous funeral bier. Throngs of the loftiest and +the noblest of the land passed slowly by, in solemn procession, to pay +their last respects to the humble princess and the true-hearted woman +who had gone to her reward. Rough peasants and the poor of the city +came too, with their tribute of real mourning, grateful to see once +more the face of the loving friend who had cast sunlight into their +shadowed lives. + +Far away in the country little Nono's heart was sorrowful. _His_ +princess was dead! No one had been able to really comfort him. +Suddenly he seemed to see her bright and glad in the Holy City. She +was at home at last! She was where she belonged--where "the inhabitant +shall no more say, I am sick;" where "the wicked cease from troubling, +and the weary be at rest." Nono had now his princess in heaven, and he +went about his work with something of the light in his face which he +had seemed to see in hers. + +From the hospital there came the news that little Decima was drooping +and sad. She said she must cry because the princess would never take +her on her knee again and call her "Decima Desideria." The child +declared she was well now, and she wanted to go home. Indeed she was +as well as she could ever be, the doctors said, but she would be a +cripple for life. She must always walk with a crutch. A change would +do the child good, was the universal opinion; so home came the little +girl, to her mother's great delight. + +"Such a dear little useful creature as she had learned to be," Karin +said, and it was true. As to knitting and crochet-work, no one in that +parish could match her. The little lame girl really brought sunshine +back to the golden house. She had such sweet songs to sing, and such +hymns for Sunday, that Jan said it was quite like going to church to +hear her, or more like hearing the little angels doing their best up in +heaven. To Pelle she particularly attached herself, laughing merrily, +as she said they belonged together, as they both walked with a stick. + +Decima was soon the soul of merriment. She seemed to have been +provided with an extra stock of gladness, to bubble over, in spite of +her misfortune, to be a joy to herself and all about her. Her +resources for talk were inexhaustible. She had always stories to tell +of her stay at the hospital, something that had happened to herself or +the other little patients, whose biographies she had quite by heart. + +Of the princess Decima never wearied of talking--how she played with +the children, even let them cover her with hay, then rose up suddenly +out of the silent heap, and smiled at them so friendly, just like an +angel, they all thought. What sweet words she wrote to them, too, +about the good Shepherd that would willingly lead them to the green +pastures! + +"Yes, little Decima is lame for life, but it has been her greatest +blessing," said Pelle to Karin. Karin opened her eyes wide, and he +went on: "We all spoiled Decima. The boys petted and teased her, and +even you, Karin, seemed to think the world must be made all smooth for +her. The princess has taught her the way to heaven, and has gone +before, so the child understands what a real place heaven is. We +mustn't spoil her again." + +The caution was needed. When Decima was pleased to speak, all +listened. Something was said one day in her presence about a monkey. +She began to laugh cheerily, and told about a baby monkey that a +hand-organ man brought once to the hospital in his pocket. She had +seen him from the window. It was a queer man, they all thought, for he +said he was looking for a golden house, where he left a baby long ago. +Maybe it was Nono he meant. He only stayed a little while, and then +went away, and never came back again. + +[Illustration: "She had seen the hand-organ man from the window."] + +Nono's eyes gleamed as he listened, and his mouth trembled so he could +not speak. "It must have been my father!" he exclaimed at last, and +his tears fell fast. + +So thought all the family, and the news was soon spread abroad that +Nono's father was in Sweden, and was looking for him. Decima had to +tell the story over and over again to listeners in the house and +listeners without. The colonel and the pastor set on foot an inquiry +for the man who had appeared months ago at the hospital, but with no +apparent result. The interest in the search gradually died away, and +it was the general conclusion that the man had returned discouraged to +his native land. + +As for Nono, he was quite changed. He did not give up the hope of +finding his own father. He seemed always listening, looking out for, +expecting something. Yet he did his work faithfully, and was more than +ever thoughtful of Karin, and dutiful and obedient towards Jan. There +was a special tenderness towards the dear friends in the cottage, as if +the time of parting might be near. The likeness of the princess seemed +meanwhile to have become especially dear to him. He would stand and +look at it long and wistfully, as if he would ask his friend some deep +question, or read in her inmost soul. + +Pelle watched the boy narrowly, and grew uneasy about him. Nono was +not inclined to talk about his father, and Pelle would not force his +confidence. He was afraid some wild scheme was forming in the mind of +the boy, some plan of going off in search of his father. Pelle took +occasion at one time to speak of the sorrow Frans had caused in his +home by his disappearance; at another, he enlarged on the dangers that +beset young lads without the protecting care of those who understood +life better than they did, etc., with innumerable variations. + +Nono listened in respectful silence, but with a wandering, wistful look +in his eyes. + +Alma had been intensely interested in Decima's story. Nono's life was +quite like a romance, she said, and she wished she could turn to the +last page of the story, as she often did in a book she was reading. +She, too, was watching and waiting and expecting. The sound of a +hand-organ brought her at once to the window, and many a wandering +musician was astonished with questions in Swedish and Italian as to +whether he was looking for the golden house, where he had left a baby +long ago; what had become of Pionono, the bear; if Francesca were dead, +etc. Such questions, put so suddenly and skilfully, Alma fancied would +be sure to bring out the truth. The puzzled stragglers often went away +from Ekero half suspecting that they were losing their own wits or the +young lady had quite lost hers, or that Swedish and Italian were now so +confused in their brains that they could fully understand neither. +When such wanderers happened to meet Nono on the highroad, they were +likely to be further mystified by the dark boy's saying suddenly, +"Don't I look like an Italian?" or "I am the baby that was left at the +golden house," or some other equally surprising question or +announcement. + +If Nono chanced to have neglected to speak to such a stranger, he was +haunted by the thought that perhaps that very man was his father, and +he might have lost his only opportunity of succeeding in his search. + +"I shall be glad when winter comes, and these black-haired fellows stop +tramping the country round," said Karin one day. "I am tired of the +sight of them, and thinking when I see them perhaps they are coming to +carry off Nono. What should I do without him? Why, he's just like one +of my own boys." + +Karin was talking to Pelle. She always allowed herself the liberty of +saying out first what was in her heart to him. Now he answered her at +once. "You seem to think that Nono was made just to be a pleasure to +you, like a baby's plaything. A pleasure he has been to you and to us +all, and that I don't deny. God knows what he means to do with the +boy, and we don't. It's likely he'll have to go out like the others to +earn his living. He can't weed and run errands for Miss Alma all his +life. You must think that he is getting to be a big boy, if we do call +him 'little Nono.' The Lord will take care of him, I am sure of that," +and Pelle turned away from Karin and went into his little room. + +Karin dashed away the tears that had come into her eyes at the very +thought of parting with Nono, but she thought to herself, "Pelle is +right. Nono is getting to be a big boy, and more's the pity. How glad +I am that I have Decima for company! and so cheerful and helpful the +child is. I don't know how I got on without her so long. If I had had +my way and kept her at home, she would have been a wild, spoiled little +thing, to be sure. The Lord's ways are best, as Pelle says. That's +what I am, a poor scholar at learning. A mother, though, must be a +mother, and that the Lord knows as well as I do, and that's a comfort." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +NONO'S PLANS, AND PLANS FOR NONO. + +Winter had come again. Nono, who was usually of a contented spirit, +seemed continually displeased with the weather. It was now the last of +January. There had for many weeks been a pleasant alternation of +sunshine and storm, of cold and a milder temperature. The snow had +been continually on the ground, but not deep enough to be in any way an +inconvenience; yet Nono was not satisfied. At last the light flakes +had fallen slowly for several days, and then the paths about the +cottage were cut out sharply, as from the solid rock. + +Nono's face wore an expression of musing satisfaction. He seemed now +in a mood for play. Thor and Sven were delighted when they heard him +ask their mother's permission to build in his spare time a snow-house +after a plan he had in his mind, and if it might stand in the open +space between the cottage and the gate. Karin was pleased to see Nono +looking so happy, and promptly granted his request. + +Nono found no difficulty in getting the other boys to act under his +direction, as they had great confidence in his architectural abilities. +With such willing hands the work went on cheerily, and with wonderful +rapidity. Block after block was put in its place, and the surface most +skilfully smoothed and hardened. + +After all, it only looked like a watch-house when it was done, Jan +said, and he was right. There was much playing sentinel among the +children, as they stood on guard, being relieved at stated intervals, +even Decima being allowed to share in the fun. This kind of frolic +came to an end when Nono, with Karin's leave, had smeared the arched +interior with a dismal pasty composition from the refuse of the +coal-cellar at Ekero. + +Nono now ventured to ask Karin to lend him a sheet to hang for a few +days before the opening of the watch-house, as the structure was +familiarly called in the family. Sven and Thor gave each other +significant punches as the request was granted, to signify that no +sheet would have been loaned to them; which was no doubt a fact, as +they were not much to be relied on for discretion or care-taking. + +Now began the erection of something within the snow-house, which Nono +alone was allowed to touch. The so-called "little boys" were of the +opinion that Nono was making the stump of a crooked old tree; but Oke, +who considered himself an authority in the family as to matters +literary and artistic, declared his opinion that Nono was making a +model of the leaning tower of Pisa, of which he spoke as familiarly as +if he had seen it personally in his travels. To the disappointment of +Decima and her brothers, they were soon all shut out from the scene of +Nono's labours; and he asked them so kindly not even to peep behind the +white curtain, that they gave their promise to do as he wished, and +promises were held sacred at the golden house. + +One morning, early in February, Nono had gone out early to "the +watch-house," and had removed the curtain, as the sheet was +respectfully called. The family had finished their breakfast, and were +just breaking up to set off in different directions, when there was a +sound of sleigh-bells stopping at the gate. + +The colonel and a gentleman who was staying at Ekero had started out +for a morning drive, "Shall we pass near the post-office?" said the +gentleman, taking a letter from his pocket. "I forgot to say before we +left the house that I had a letter I was anxious to have mailed at +once. It is my wife's name-day, and I want her to get a few words from +me." + +"We shall not pass the post-office," said the colonel, "but I can get a +trusty messenger here;" and the coachman drew up at once at the cottage. + +The gentleman started, and the colonel sprang to his feet in surprise. + +"How wonderful! so like her! I almost thought I had seen a spectre!" +said the stranger. "And her name-day, too. My wife was named after +the princess." + +Yes! There stood the princess in white garments, seemingly coming +forward, her figure gracefully bowed, as it was in life, as if by a +loving, unconscious desire of the heart to draw near to all who +approached her. A fleecy shawl seemed to lie lightly over her +shoulders. Snow-white coils of hair crowned her head, and her fair +face had a pure sweetness of its own. + +"It is wonderfully like her!" said the stranger. + +The family from the cottage now came out, Nono leading Karin, who had +all the while been in the secret, and the rest eagerly following. + +"Is this your work, Nono?" said the colonel. + +Nono modestly bowed, and murmured an answer, while his eyes glowed as +if they were on fire. + +The sound of little Decima sobbing broke in on the conversation. "That +is a cold white princess!" she said. "She can't take me on her knee +and tell me pretty stories. I don't like the cold white princess!" + +Jan took Decima in his arms, while the colonel said pleasantly: "But we +like her, Decima; and we loved the princess, both of us; and this +gentleman's wife has her name; and he has written a letter to her that +we want taken to the post-office at once, that she may get it on her +name-day.--Can you go, Nono?" + +Nono was glad to spring away with the letter, full of happy +thoughts--that every one knew that it was the princess, his dear snow +princess, that he had made with his own hands! The gentlemen liked it, +too! + +While Nono was joyously bounding along the road to the village, the +group round the statue could not get through admiring it. + +"He's a wonder, that boy!" said Karin, as she went into the cottage. +"That he should come to me to bring up, when I can't cut out a +gingerbread baby so that it looks like anything!" + +"God knows why he sent him to you, Karin," said Pelle, "and God will +know what to do with him in the time that is coming. He is a wonderful +boy, that is sure!" + +While the simple people at the golden house were talking in this way +about Nono, the colonel and his guest had driven away. The stranger +had promised to come in the afternoon and take a photograph of the snow +statue, and of Nono too, the very best he could get, and of the whole +family group just as he had seen them. + +As the gentlemen drove on together they talked of the princess, beloved +by rich and poor, and of the visitor's wife, one of the pure in heart +worthy to bear the name of her honoured friend. + +Nono, too, was the subject of conversation. His whole story was told, +and listened to with intense interest. It was agreed that Nono should, +with Karin's permission, come for some hours every day to Ekero to wait +upon the stranger, who was a sculptor, and was making a marble bust of +the colonel's wife from the various likenesses of her, assisted by her +husband's vivid descriptions of her ever-remembered face and her person +and character. + +"I must know that boy, and take him to Italy with me in the spring if I +can," said the sculptor. "There is an artist in him, I am sure, and it +will only be a pleasure to train him." + +When, later, Pelle heard the plan that was proposed, he said quickly,-- + +"Those artist fellows are not always the best to be trusted with the +care of a boy. It would be better for Nono to work in the fields, with +good Jan to look after him, than to make figures in a far country under +the greatest gentleman in the world who was not a good man." + +Karin looked relieved, and turned to hear what Jan would say on the +subject; for, after all, in important matters it was always Jan who +decided. + +"The colonel said, when he talked to me"--and here Jan paused and +looked about him. He did not object to having it understood that the +colonel considered him the head of the family, a fact which Jan himself +sometimes doubted--"the colonel said," he continued, "that artist was a +Christian man, and he had a wife just fit to be called, as she was, +after the princess, and he couldn't say any more. And he didn't need +to! They haven't any children of their own, so she just goes where he +goes, everywhere, and she's the kind of a woman to be the making of +Nono, such a boy as he is. Nono will go with him in the spring; I have +made up my mind on that matter." + +Karin began to cry. "To bring him up, and such a nice boy as he is, +and such a wonderful boy, too; and to love him so, and then have to +give him to people who hardly know him at all!" and Karin fairly sobbed. + +"You are partial to Nono, Karin," said Jan sternly. He never held back +a rebuke for Karin when he thought she deserved it. "You never took on +so when your own boys went away, three of them, over the sea." + +"_Our_ boys _are our_ boys," said Karin, "and that makes a difference. +They can't belong to anybody else. I should be their own mother, and +they'd feel it, and so should I, if they lived in the moon. But Nono, +off there, he may find his own father and mother and never come back. +They may be tramping kind of people. Most likely they are, and there's +no knowing what ways they might teach him. They have a right to him +and I haven't. That's what I feel. I love him just like my own. He +wouldn't turn the cold shoulder to his own father and mother if they +were poor as poverty or just fit for a prison, I know that. It +wouldn't be in him. Not that I think he would forget me. It would be +a shame to say it, such a good child as he has always been to me!" + +Jan put his hand on Karin's shoulder and looked helplessly at her, as +he generally did when she had a flood of tears and a flood of talk at +the same time. + +Pelle came to the rescue, as he had often done before. "Karin wants to +be Providence," he said. "She wants to take things into her own hands. +That's the way with women, especially mothers. There was my mother, +when I was a sailor, almost sure I would go to the bad; but God just +lays me up in a hospital, and turns me square round, and sets my face +to the better country. I just went home, and made up my mind to stay +by my mother, and do for her as long as she lived; and I did, God bless +her! It is good sense, Karin, to let the Lord manage his own way. +Your way might not turn out the best after all." + +"Yes, I know it," said Karin, wiping her eyes. "But things do come so +unexpected in this world, one can't ever be ready for them." + +"Just take one day at a time, Karin, and don't bother about what's +coming," said Pelle. "We can't any of us say what is to become of +Nono, not even Jan, who is so clear in his mind. We don't any of us +know what to-morrow may bring. He'll have just what the Lord has +planned for him. Women are better at bringing up 'critters' than +driving them when they are brought up. They are about the same with +boys. Mothers should bring up their boys right, and then let the Lord +do what he pleases with them afterwards. Isn't it so, Karin?" + +"Yes--maybe--I do suppose you are right, Pelle, and I'll try to +remember it. But a man don't know how a woman feels." + +"It's well they don't," said Jan curtly. "It wouldn't have suited what +I've had to do in life to be like them. Karin's heart is bigger than +her head; but things have worked well here so far, and it's likely it +will be so to the end," and Jan looked kindly after Karin as she went +off to feed the chickens, with Decima in her train, evidently thinking +her mother was the injured party. + +At the bottom of his heart Jan was convinced that he had about the best +wife in the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +PIETRO. + +The statue of the princess had long since passed away, and the thoughts +of the pleasant scenes around it had melted into the cheerful memories +of the past. In the cottage there were ever the photographs of the +beautiful white figure and of the family group, and under them an +almost perfect likeness of Nono. + +The real Nono was far away in the land of his forefathers. He was +sorely missed in the home where he had been so tenderly cared for. +Blackie was, as usual, wearing deep mourning, though he showed no +emotional signs of feeling the absence of his master. Blackie, like +many a precocious two-legged creature, had not developed into the +wonder that was expected. Example and daily association had made him +more and more like his fellows; and Nono had not been long away from +the golden house before Jan began to talk about the little black pig as +the pork of the future. + +Karin had supposed that the parting with Nono would be like the parting +with her other boys--a separation only lightened by letters coming +rarely, merely to tell that the absentees were well and doing famously. +With Nono it was quite otherwise. The letters from him came weekly, +almost as regularly as Sunday itself. And such letters as they were, +written so clearly, and containing such a particular account of his +doings, and, what Karin prized more, warm expressions of grateful +affection for the dear friends "at home," as he still called the golden +house, though it was plain that the once houseless little Italian had +now two homes. + +Nono wrote that the artist's wife treated him as if he were her own +son, and was teaching him carefully everything that would help him to +understand all that was about him. Object lessons they seemed to be, +with wonderful Rome for the great "kindergarten." He was learning +Italian too, and that he thought charming. As for his work in the +studio, it was only a pleasure, excepting that he was impatient for the +time when he could make beautiful things himself. When he had walked +in the streets at first, he had thought all the boys might at least +have been his cousins, and some of them made him feel as if he were +looking in the glass. Now and then he would meet a man that he felt +sure must be his father, but he did not often dare to speak to such +strangers. He had hoped and believed he should find his father in +Italy, but now he was sure it would be harder to know him there than in +Sweden. He had almost given up thinking about it lately, he had so +much to do and so much to see, and everybody was so kind to him. + +Karin did not feel that Nono was drifting away from her, though he +wrote so openly and affectionately of his new friends. His thankful +remembrance of all the love and care he had had at the cottage was +expressed in every letter, and a deeper gratitude for the kind +instruction that had taught him from his childhood to love his heavenly +Father, and to try to obey his holy laws. + +Alma missed Nono, it was true, for she had really grown fond of the +little friendly boy while he had been an inmate at Ekero; but she had a +new deep content in the pleasure she was learning to find in the +society of her brother. Together they were struggling heavenward, and +were daily a help and joy to each other. + +Alma was walking on the veranda one morning in early summer, when she +saw what she thought two tramps approaching. She had no liking for +such wanderers, and turned to go into the house. At that moment she +caught sight of the worn face of the older man, and stood still. He +looked so gentle, and yet so weary and weak, as he clung to the arm of +his younger companion. They were not dressed like Italians, nor like +any style of persons in particular, for their costume was evidently +made up of cast-off garments that had seen better days. Their faces, +though, were dark and thin, and there was a southern fire in the eyes +of the younger man as he said at once in tolerable Swedish, "Pietro +here is tired. He cannot get any further, miss. I told him he could +not hold out for this trip, but come he would, and I had to let him. +Perhaps he could sit down somewhere a few moments and get a glass of +milk or something like that." + +"He looks very tired," said Alma. "Go that way to the kitchen, and I +will see that you have something to eat." + +The colonel, hearing voices, came out at the moment. He saw at once +that the men were Italians, and addressed them in their own language. +The eyes of the one who had spoken flashed with pleasure, and a light +came into the face of his companion, who now said in Italian, "I have +been very ill. It is too cold for me up here. No summer, no summer! +The north killed my wife long ago, and I suppose it has killed me. I +knew this man when I was here before. I only met him again yesterday. +He knows where the house is I want to find. I left my boy there, a +baby, and I want to know if he is alive. It was Francesca's baby, and +she loved it before she went wrong," and he touched his forehead +significantly. + +The colonel looked meaningly at Alma, whose eyes were wide with intense +interest, for she had understood enough to follow the conversation. + +The colonel took the hand of the old man kindly, and said,-- + +"You must rest here a little, and then we will talk together." + +When Pietro was refreshed by rest and food the colonel sat down beside +him, and told him all about the happy life Nono had had at the cottage, +and how he had made the snow statue of the princess, and was now far +away in Italy, learning to be perhaps a great sculptor himself. + +The tears rolled slowly down the old man's cheeks as he listened. "It +is good to hear, Enricho," he murmured, addressing his companion; "but +I am too late, as you see." + +"Can't we keep him here, and take care of him? He is our Nono's +father, of course, papa," said Alma, much moved. + +Alma had truly received into the inner chamber of her heart the +heavenly Guest, and she was eager to share all with his humbler +brethren. + +"Where shall we put him?" said the colonel thoughtfully. + +"In the little room in the wing, where the painters slept last summer," +answered Alma promptly. "I will see that it is all nice for him. He +looks so sick and tired. I am sure Marie will do her best for him, she +was so fond of Nono. And, dear papa, we can use my money for him. I +have ever so much still left in my little cottage. Let me, please, +papa!" + +The colonel gazed lovingly at Alma as he said,-- + +"Now you look so like your dear mother. It is just what she would have +said. Certainly we will keep him here." + +Enricho was only too glad to leave Pietro in the pleasant quarters that +were prepared for him before evening. When the weary old man lay down +in his comfortable bed, with everything neat and clean about him, he +felt as if he were in some strange, blissful dream. He was not to see +his boy; but how lovingly they had spoken of him! + +Karin cried like a child when she heard that Nono's poor father had +appeared; the very man she had dreaded to think of, who might come at +any time to carry off the boy who was as dear to her as her own +children. How she wished she could speak the poor father's language, +and tell him what Nono had been to her! Later, she did try to make him +understand it all, not only by broken Swedish words and signs, but with +Frans sometimes as a translator. Mr. Frans had been studying Italian +with his father, and was glad himself to talk about Nono. + +Pietro, broken down by hardship and illness, and thin and worn, seemed +older than he really was. Pelle and Pietro were soon good friends. It +was a precious time for Frans when he translated the conversation +between these two veterans from life's battles--the one defeated, +wounded, near his death; the other humble, yet triumphant, victorious, +and soon to be summoned to the court of his King for a more than +abundant reward. + +"I am not fit to be the father of a boy like Nono," said Pietro one +day--"not fit to be his father." + +Pietro's old superstitious confidence in the religion of his country +had passed into a dull unbelief in all that was sacred. He had a +disease which Pelle found he could not reach. + +Then the colonel came and sat day by day in Pietro's room, and talked +to the poor Italian out of the fulness of his heart as he had never +talked to a human being before. There, in that small room, the colonel +won a victory greater than the triumphs of war. There he won a soul +for the heavenly King! The colonel, by nature so self-controlled, so +reticent, was moved to warmth and tender tears as Pietro grasped his +hand and thanked him for opening the way for his soul to the real +knowledge of God and holiness and peace. + +It was the first human being that the colonel had led in the way of +life, and Pietro was a precious treasure to him. + +Alma insisted upon being responsible for every expense that was +incurred for Pietro. She could do nothing more for him but remember +him in her prayers. The fair, slight girl, with the kindly look in her +dear blue eyes, seemed to him a thing quite apart from his life, +something he could not understand--that could not understand him. + +The time would come when Alma, now walking tremblingly herself in the +way of life, would be strong to help the weak and struggling, and lead +the wanderers gently home. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE OPENED DOOR. + +The sweet bells of Aneholm Church were cheerily ringing. The sunshine +shed a quiet gladness over the smooth meadows, and even the moist, dark +evergreens of the distant woods glittered in the clear light. + +Within the church, garlands of birch leaves hung here and there on the +white walls and festooned the carved pulpit. Green wreaths crowned the +golden angels that supported, each with one lifted hand, the sculptured +altar-piece; while in the other, outstretched, they loosely held wild +flowers, as if ready to strew them in the paths of the pilgrims bound +heavenward. The still marble figures that had so long sat watchers +beside the effigies on the great monuments of the honoured dead wore +now on their brows blue circlets of corn-flowers, as if to tell for +to-day of glad resurrection rather than of the dark tomb. + +Tiny floral processions seemed passing in long lines along the tops of +the simple wooden seats for the congregation; for the sconces that had +held the lights for many a service on a winter morning or evening were +now filled with bouquets, placed there by the children who had the day +before been confirmed in the quiet sanctuary. The flowers, like the +children, were from the rich man's garden or from the woods and +meadows--here choice roses or glowing verbenas, there buttercups and +daisies. + +To-day the newly confirmed, "the children of the Lord's Supper," were +to "come forward" for the first time to the holy communion. + +The colonel generally walked to church with Alma and Frans, but this +morning the carriage had been ordered for him. A friend was to be with +him who was not strong enough to go on foot to the service. The +doctor, who was carefully watching over Pietro, had said that it would +not be at all dangerous for him to have his desire gratified--to take +the holy communion at the sacred altar. His days were plainly +numbered; it but remained to make his decline as full as possible of +joy and peace. + +The poor old fellow was pleased to wear his fresh homely suit and the +broad-brimmed hat that reminded him so pleasantly of home. The +congregation were already assembled when the two entered--Pietro +leaning heavily on the arm of the colonel, who gently led him to the +corner of the pew that had been comfortably prepared for him. + +The preliminary service over, the children recently confirmed went +forward first to the communion, circling the chancel in solemn +stillness, while the prayers of the congregation went up for the young +disciples. Then came the elders to the holy table. Old Pelle and +Pietro knelt side by side, the latter staying himself by one hand on +the colonel's shoulder, as if he had been a brother. The Italian knew +nothing of the pride and stiffness of the early days of his friend. +The colonel was but to him the loving guide who had led him to the +heavenly kingdom. Their paths were soon to separate. Pietro was to be +summoned upward; the colonel was to linger and labour, and perhaps +suffer before he entered into rest. + +The future lay uncertain before the dwellers at Ekero and the golden +house, but they had nought to fear. They had opened the guest-chamber +of their hearts to the heavenly Visitant, and they would henceforward +be blessed by his continual presence. + +And Nono, who had so early admitted the sacred Friend? He did not see +his father on earth, but he had the glad hope of meeting him in the +true home above. Nono was to "make beautiful things," and had the +beautiful life of all who follow Him who is the spring and source of +beauty and purity and love. + + +"Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and +open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he +with me." + +"If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, +and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." + +"Be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come +in." + + + + +THE END. + + + + +The 'Royal' Libraries + +Of Reward Books in Uniform Bindings. + + +Containing a Selection of Messrs. Nelson and Sons' Popular Copyright +Tales and Standard Books by the best Authors. + +T. NELSON AND SONS, London, Edinburgh, and New York. + + + +The 'Royal' Two Shilling Library. + +Chronicles of the Schoenberg-Cotta Family. By Mrs. RUNDLE CHARLES. + +The Spanish Brothers. By DEBORAH ALCOCK. + +Leonie; or, Light out of Darkness. 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