s. Is that so,
Hans?"

"If you should see them, you would certainly think so. Many of the
fellows are real handsome, but their faces are scarred more often
than not.

"'The more scars I can show, the braver people will think I am.' That
is what the students seem to think. They get up duels with each
other on the smallest excuse. When they fight, they always try to
strike the face. Father says their duelling is good practice. It
really helps to make them brave. If I were a student, I should want
to fight duels, too."

Bertha shuddered. Duelling was quite the fashion in German
universities, but the little girl was very tender-hearted. She could
not bear to think of her brother having his face cut up by the sword
of any one in the world.

"What do you think, girls?" Hans went on. "Father had to go to the
part of the town nearest the castle. He said he should be busy for
several hours, and I could do what I liked. So I climbed up the hill
to the castle, and wandered all around it. I saw a number of English
and American people there. I suppose they had come to Heidelberg on
purpose to see those buildings.

"'Isn't it beautiful!' I heard them exclaim again and again. And I
saw a boy about my own age writing things about it in a note-book.
He told his mother he was going to say it was the most beautiful ruin
in Germany. He was an American boy, but he spoke our language. I
suppose he was just learning it, for he made ever so many mistakes.
I could hardly tell what he was trying to say."

"What did his mother answer?" asked Bertha.

"She nodded her head, and then pointed out some of the finest
carvings and statues. But she and her son moved away from me before
long, and then I found myself near some children of our country.
They must have been rich, for they were dressed quite grandly. Their
governess was with them. She told them to notice how many different
kinds of buildings there were, some of them richly carved, and some
quite plain. 'You will find here palaces, towers, and fortresses,
all together,' she said. 'For, in the old days, it was not only a
grand home, but it was also a strong fortress.'"

[Illustration: Courtyard of Heidelberg Castle.]

"You know father told us it was not built all at once," said
Gretchen. "Different parts were added during four hundred years."

"Yes, and he said it had been stormed by the enemy, and burned and
plundered," added Bertha. "It has been in the h