ey
don't call her that. Some people call her Mrs. Rector, some mama, and
Uncle Philip says Maxa to her and Leonore calls her Aunt Maxa."

"Is your father the rector of Nolla?" the gentleman asked.

"He has been in heaven a long while, and he was in heaven before we came
here, but mama wanted to come back to Nolla because this was her home.
We don't live in the rectory now, but where there is a garden with lots
of paths, and where the big currant-bushes are in the corners, here and
here and here." Maezli traced the position of the bushes exactly on the
lionskin. The castle-steward, leaning back in his chair, said nothing
more. "Do you find it very tiresome here?" Maezli asked sympathetically.

"Yes, I do," was the answer.

"Have you no picture-book"

"No."

"Oh, I'll bring you one, as soon as I come again. And then--but perhaps
you have a headache?" Maezli interrupted herself. "When my mama wrinkles
up her forehead the way you do she always has a headache, and one must
get her some cold water to make it better. I'll quickly get some," and
the next instant Maezli was gone.

"Come back, child!" the gentleman called after her. "There is nobody in
the castle, and you won't find any."

It seemed strange to Maezli that there should be nobody to bring water to
the Castle-Steward.

"I'll find somebody for him," she said, eagerly running down the incline
to the door, in whose vicinity Mr. Trius was wandering up and down.

"You are to go up to the Castle-Steward at once," she said standing still
in front of him, "and you are to bring him some cold water, because he
has a headache. But very quickly."

Mr. Trius glanced at Maezli in an infuriated way as if to say: "How do
you dare to come to me like this?" Then throwing the door wide open he
growled like a cross bear: "Out of here first, so I can close it." After
Maezli had slipped out he banged the big door with all his might so that
the hinges rattled. Turning the monstrous key twice in the lock, he also
bolted it with a vengeance. By this he meant to show that no one could
easily go in again at his pleasure.

Apollonie, who had been sitting down in the shade not far from the door
now went up to Maezli and said, "You stayed there a long time. What did
the gentleman say?"

"Very little, but I told him a lot," Maezli said. "He has a headache,
Apollonie, and just think! nobody ever brings him any water, and Mr.
Trius even turns the key and bolts the door before he goe