to see
me. They are such kind boys and girls!"

"Of course they are! They are the best in the world," Gerda declared, and
it seemed, indeed, as if there could be no kinder children anywhere than
those who filled all the autumn days with the magic of their fun and
good-will for the little lame Karen.

Bouquets of flowers, and plants with bright blossoms, simple games, and
new books found their way to her room. There was seldom a day when one or
another of the friends did not come to tell her about some of their good
times, or plan a little pleasure for her; and Karen seemed to find as
much enjoyment in hearing of the fun as if she, herself, could really
take part in it.

"What is the carnival?" she asked Gerda one evening in late November,
when the last of the friends had clattered down the stairs, and the two
little girls were sitting beside the tall porcelain stove which filled
the room with a comfortable heat. "I have heard you all talking about it
for days; but I don't know just what it is."

"It is a day for winter sports, and all kinds of fun, and you shall sit
in the casino at the Deer Park and see it for yourself," said Gerda,
giving Karen a loving hug.

When the day of the carnival arrived at last, and Karen sat in the
casino, cosily wrapped in furs, and looked out over the Djurgard, she
knew that she had never dreamed of so much fun and beauty.

There had been heavy hoar frosts for several nights, and the trees had
become perfectly white,--the pines standing straight as powdered
sentinels, the birches bending under their silvery covering like frozen
fountains of spray. The ice was covered with skaters, their sharp steel
shoes flashing in the sun, their merry laughter ringing out in the cold,
crisp air.

It seemed as if everyone in Stockholm were skating, or snow-shoeing, or
skimming over the fields of snow on long skis. Even Fru Ekman, after
making Karen comfortable in the casino, strapped a pair of skates on her
own feet and astonished the little girl with the wonderful circles and
figures she could cut on the ice.

There was no place for beginners in such a company. And indeed, it almost
seemed as if Swedish boys and girls could skate without beginning, for
many little children were darting about among the crowds of grown people.

Of course Karen's eyes were fixed most often upon the twins, and as they
chased each other over the hurdles, or wound in and out among the
sail-skaters and long lines of