edly. "That sum will be but a poor price
for the chain." And off she darted outstripping the fleetest among the
skaters.

Hans sent a long, bewildered gaze after her; it was useless, he felt, to
make any further resistance.

"It is right," he muttered, half to himself, half to his faithful
shadow, Gretel. "I must work hard every minute, and sit up half the
night if the mother will let me burn a candle, but the chain shall be
finished. We may keep the money, Gretel."

"What a good little lady!" cried Gretel, clapping her hands with
delight. "Oh! Hans, was it for nothing the stork settled on our roof
last summer? Do you remember how the mother said it would bring us luck
and how she cried when Janzoon Kolp shot him? And she set it would bring
him trouble. But the luck has come to us at last! Now, Hans, if
the mother sends us to town tomorrow, you can buy the skates in the
marketplace."

Hans shook his head. "The young lady would have given us the money to
buy skates, but if I EARN it, Gretel, it shall be spent for wool. You
must have a warm jacket."

"Oh!" cried Gretel in real dismay, "not buy the skates? Why, I am not
often cold! Mother says the blood runs up and down in poor children's
veins, humming, 'I must keep 'em warm! I must keep 'em warm.'

"Oh, Hans," she continued with something like a sob, "don't say you
won't buy the skates. It makes me feel just like crying. Besides, I want
to be cold. I mean, I'm real, awful warm--so now!"

Hans looked up hurriedly. He had a true Dutch horror or tears, or
emotion of any kind, and most of all, he dreaded to see his sisters'
blue eyes overflowing.

"Now, mind," cried Gretel, seeing her advantage, "I'll feel awful if you
give up the skates. I don't want them. I'm not so stingy as that; but
I want YOU to have them, and then when I get bigger, they'll do for
me--oh--count the pieces, Hans. Did you ever see so many!"

Hans turned the money thoughtfully in his palm. Never in all his life
had he longed so intensely for a pair of skates, for he had known of the
race and had fairly ached for a chance to test his powers with the other
children. He felt confident that with a good pair of steel runners he
could readily outdistance most of the boys on the canal. Then, too,
Gretel's argument was plausible. On the other hand, he knew that she,
with her strong but lithe little frame, needed but a week's practice
on good runners to make her a better skater than Rychie Korbes or ev