o
which the Stranger Child had disappeared. "To-morrow!--to-morrow I come
again!" the children could just hear, as if from an immense distance.
They could not give themselves any explanation of their feelings, for
never, never had they known such happiness and enjoyment before in
their lives.

"And, oh, I wish it were to-morrow now!" they both cried, as they
hastened home as hard as they could, to tell their parents all that had
happened to them.

WHAT BARON VON BRAKEL AND HIS LADY SAID, AND WHAT
HAPPENED FURTHER.

"I could almost fancy the children had dreamt all this," the Baron said
to his wife, when Felix and Christlieb, full of the Stranger Child,
could not cease from talking of all that had happened--the
delightsomeness of their new friend, the exquisite music, the wonderful
events generally--"but then," said the Baron, "when I remember that
they could not both have dreamt just the same things at the same time,
really, when all's said and done, I cannot get to the bottom of it
all."

"Don't trouble your head about it, dear," said Frau von Brakel. "My
idea is that this Stranger Child was nobody but the schoolmaster's boy,
Gottlieb, from the village. It must have been he that ran over, and put
all this nonsense in the children's heads. We must take care that he is
not allowed to do it any more."

The Baron, was by no means of his wife's opinion; and, with the view of
getting better at the rights and wrongs of the affair, the children
were brought in and made to describe minutely what the child was like;
how it was dressed, and so forth. With respect to its appearance, both
Felix and Christlieb agreed that its face was fair as the lilies; that
it had cheeks like roses, cherry lips, bright blue eyes, locks of
golden hair, and that it was more beautiful altogether than words could
tell. As regarded its dress, all they knew was that it certainly had
not a blue-striped jacket and trousers, or a black leather cap, such as
the schoolmaster's Gottlieb wore. On the other hand, all they said of
its dress sounded utterly fabulous and absurd. For Christlieb said its
dress was wondrous beautiful, shining and gleaming, as if made of the
petals of roses; whilst Felix maintained that it was sparkling golden
green, like spring-leaves in the sunshine. Felix further said that the
child could not possibly have any connection with such a person as a
school master, because it was too deeply