ple? How could
you enter the house without an excuse?"

"Not without an excuse, Mamma," said Sally, somewhat embarrassed.
"'Lizebeth had given me a message for old Marianne."

"Which the inquisitive Sally fetched in the kitchen for the purpose of
carrying out her plan, that is clear," remarked Auntie. When the whole
truth lay open to the light of day, Sally felt relieved and she returned
with new zeal to her communication. She had much to describe: the empty
room and the silk dress of the lady, and her sad glances, and then the
knightly Erick with his joyous laughter and the merry eyes; but she
could not describe it all so attractively as it seemed to her.

"So," said Edi, looking up from his book, "now you have another friend.
It will go, no doubt, with him as with little Leopold!" After giving her
this fling he bent again over his book and read on, taking no notice of
anything.

Sally did not find the desired sympathy. She was so full of her
impressions that she felt Mother and Aunt should be all afire and aflame
for her new friendship. Instead of that, the two kept on mending the
stockings; Father did not even look up from his paper and Edi had only a
satirical remark for sympathy. Sally had rather a bad reputation for
making friendships. Almost every week she saw some one who appealed to
her so much, that she must make a friendship at once; but the
friendships were mostly of short duration, for she had imagined
something else than she often found on looking closer. This made her
quite unhappy at the time, but the next week she had already found some
one else who filled her thoughts.

The last unfortunate friendship had brought forth Edi's satire to a
greater degree. The tailor of Upper Wood had three sons, and since the
father on his wanderings had spent some time in Vienna he gave his sons,
in remembrance of the beautiful days which he spent there, the names of
three Austrian grand dukes. It was this strange name that had first
attracted Sally; to that was added that Leopold, the oldest of the sons,
who had lived with his grandfather until now, but had come recently to
Upper Wood, always wore elegant jackets and pants after the latest cut.
Leopold had entered Sally's class and his appearance had at once
inspired her. But he was so small and dainty that he received the name
Leopoldy from the whole school. The rumor had preceded Leopold, that he
had staid three years in the same class in the town where his
gran