t here. Do you know what this place is? You have been to school? It
is Berlin, the capital of Germany.'

'Yes, yes,' they all cried; 'Berlin, capital of Germany. We know that.
That is why we came.'

'So, you see, it is no good,' she said triumphantly, 'because your
people can never come for you here.'

'They told us to come here and wait till our people came for us.' They
delivered this as if it were a lesson in school. Then they sat still,
their hands orderly folded on their laps, smiling as sweetly as ever.

'Go away! Go away!' Frau Ebermann shrieked.

'You called?' said Anna, entering.

'No. Go away! Go away!'

'Very good, old cat,' said the maid under her breath. 'Next time you
_may_ call,' and she returned to her friend in the kitchen.

'I ask you--ask you, _please_ to go away,' Frau Ebermann pleaded. 'Go to
my Anna through that door, and she will give you cakes and sweeties. It
is not kind of you to come into my room and behave so badly.'

'Where else shall we go now?' the elder girl demanded, turning to her
little company. They fell into discussion. One preferred the broad
street with trees, another the railway station; but when she suggested
an Emperor's palace, they agreed with her.

'We will go then,' she said, and added half apologetically to Frau
Ebermann, 'You see, they are so little they like to meet all
the others.'

'What others?' said Frau Ebermann.

'The others--hundreds and hundreds and thousands and thousands of the
others.'

'That is a lie. There cannot be a hundred even, much less a thousand,'
cried Frau Ebermann.

'So?' said the girl politely.

'Yes. _I_ tell you; and I have very good information. I know how it
happened. You should have been more careful. You should not have run out
to see the horses and guns passing. That is how it is done when our
troops pass through. My son has written me so.'

They had clambered down from the sofa, and gathered round the bed with
eager, interested eyes.

'Horses and guns going by--how fine!' some one whispered.

'Yes, yes; believe me, _that_ is how the accidents to the children
happen. You must know yourself that it is true. One runs out to look--'

'But I never saw any at all,' a boy cried sorrowfully. 'Only one noise I
heard. That was when Aunt Emmeline's house fell down.'

'But listen to me. _I_ am telling you! One runs out to look, because one
is little and cannot see well. So one peeps between the man's legs, and
then--you know h