ld make the horse carry him swiftly away. As it was he
let the horse do as he pleased, and as Carl sat quietly and did not
worry him in any way, he pleased to go along very smoothly, and
rather slowly, so it was past midnight when they reached home.

[Illustration]

Carl found that the Duke had been there a long time; that the lady was
overjoyed to see him, and Nurse Heine said she began to grow better
from that moment.

The next morning the Duke went away; but before he left he thanked
Carl for the great service he had done him, and gave him a piece of
gold. But Carl was better pleased when the lady called him into her
room, and kissed him, and cried over him, and praised him for a kind,
brave boy, and said he had saved her life.

And when she got well Carl noticed that she was brighter and happier
than she had been before.

In a short time, however, she went away with the Duke, in a grand
coach, with servants and outriders. And Carl and Greta watched them as
they were whirled up the forest road, and then walked home through the
pines with sad hearts.

Then the forester told his children that the Duke had married this
lady secretly, against the king's command, and he had so many bitter
and cruel enemies that he was afraid they would do her some evil while
he was away in the war. She knew of the forester, because his wife had
been a maid of her mother's, so she came to this lonely place for
safety. But now the king was pleased, and it was all right.

The winter came and went. The war was over. And then Lady Clarice,
whom the children never expected to see again, sent for them, and the
forester, and Nurse Heine, to her castle. She provided for them all,
and Greta grew up into a pretty and well-bred young lady.

Lady Clarice had not forgotten the brave act of the boy, and also
remembered what he liked best in the world. So she had him taught to
draw and paint, and in process of time he became a great artist, and
all the world knew of his name and fame.

SCHOOL'S OUT!

[Illustration]

What a welcome and joyful sound! In the winter, when the days are
short, and the sun, near the end of the six school hours, sinks so low
that the light in the room grows dim and gray, with what impatience,
my dear child, do you wait for this signal! But it is in the long
summer days that you find school most tiresome. The air in the room is
hot and drowsy, and outside you can see there is a breeze blowing, for
the trees