"and you
must hurry and get ready to come down stairs, for we are going to have
_Kaffee_ just as you do in Berlin. Won't that be fun?"

"Mamma can comfort her," she thought to herself, as she emptied the
pitcher which Sarah had filled a few minutes before, and refilled it
with water a shade cooler. "I'll leave them alone a few minutes and go
down and see about the coffee. I know she will like those little currant
cakes of Sarah's."

Frieda, however, seemed little inclined to ask consolation from Mrs.
Eldred. She stood helplessly looking into her trunk, and Mrs. Eldred,
feeling suddenly shy, looked helplessly at her. The clouded, silent face
was so different from Hannah's.

"Aren't you rather warm, dear, with that heavy gown on? Let's find
something thinner to slip on before we go down stairs."

Frieda stooped, rummaged a minute, and then produced a dress of pink
cotton, fussily trimmed with lace and ribbons. "This is thinner," she
said, stonily.

"That will do though it is rather fine for home dinner," said Mrs.
Eldred gently. "But put it on, if you will, dear. I'll tell that
forgetful Hannah to bring your water at once. O, I see, she left it
outside the door. There! If you want any help, just call me. I'll go
into my own room across the hall and read your mother's letter." She
wanted to kiss the child, but Frieda's manner forbade it.

The pink frock had alarmed Mrs. Eldred. "Clothes make such a difference
to girls," she thought in distress. "How can I help her? She will be
proud and shy, and sure to think I am criticising her mother's taste.
Dear Marie!" Whereupon she wisely suspended her puzzling and read the
letter.

"I am sending Frieda with as few new clothes as possible, my dear Edith,
relying upon your taste and kindness to fit her out with what she needs.
I remember how differently you dressed when you came to Heidelberg, and
how odd Hannah's clothes looked to Frieda's friends, and I want Frieda
to start without a handicap. American girls are less accustomed to
seeing foreigners than German girls are, and a little difference in the
way of dressing might make a great difference in happiness. I am afraid
my Frieda will be peculiar in many ways that cannot be remedied, so once
more I ask you, will you choose for her a simple outfit such as Hannah
herself would approve, and make me more than ever your grateful debtor?"

Mrs. Eldred sighed with relief. The solution of one difficulty in sight,
she felt brav