ross roads, are
most disagreeable people. We can't associate with them."

[Illustration: "THE RATS WHO KEEP THE INN ARE MOST DISAGREEABLE
PEOPLE."]

"Gypsies!" cried Uncle Columbus at this moment. He had an unpleasant
habit when he did not like the conversation, of suddenly reminding the
family of a tragedy that had happened some sixty years ago, when a
promising young Hedgehog had been carried off to captivity by a band
of travelling Tinkers, and finally disposed of in a way too terrible
to be alluded to.

The Councillor's wife looked angry, and hastily changed the subject.

"He is quite a trial to us sometimes!" she whispered to the
Mole-mother. "Such bad taste to mention Gypsies. It makes me tremble
in every quill!"

"I think I must be going now," said the Mole-mother hurriedly, putting
away her knitting into a reticule, and tying a woollen hood over her
head--for she felt that it would not do for strangers to be mixed up
in these family matters.

Calling her children to her, she helped them into their warm galoshes;
and lighting a small lantern, they were soon out in the snowy forest.

CHAPTER II.

"Oh, mother, I wish we were rich like the Hedgehogs," cried the eldest
daughter, Emmie; "Wilhelm and Fritz are so fashionable, and on Berta's
birthday they are going to give a grand coffee party, to which the
Court Hedgehog is expected!"

"Well, they won't ask us, so you had better not think too much about
it," said the Mole-mother; "don't let your mind run on vanities."

As she spoke they saw the two rats from the Inn coming towards them.
The elder--the proprietor of the Inn--in a peasant's dress with a pipe
in his mouth, dragging a small sledge on which three infant rats were
seated, wrapped in a fur rug, while their mother walked beside
them, her homespun cloak trailing over the snow.

"Good evening, neighbours!" cried the Mole-mother pleasantly, for
though she did not exactly approve of the Rat household, she always
treated them with civility. "Where are you out so late? How well the
children are looking!"

"Yes, they grow rapidly--bless their little tails and whiskers!" said
the Rat-mother proudly. "We have just been to my brother's in the
town, taking a cup of coffee with him, and there we heard some news.
_I_ can tell you! There's to be a grand Coffee Party at the Hedgehogs,
and though all the guests have been invited, _we_ alone are left out.
Most insulting _I_ call it!"

"Well, it _is_ rude,"