w
much he would enjoy taking a similar ride into the fields some day.

When Mrs. Maxa gave the sign for parting after the merry supper party,
no sign of grief was shown because the Baron had already told them that
Leonore was to move up into the castle in a few days. They were all to
be present then. After that there would be no end to their visits.

When the Baron shook Maezli's hand at parting, he said, "You came to see
me first, Maezli, so you shall always be my special friend."

"Yes, I'll be your friend," Maezli said firmly.

When Leonore tenderly took leave of her uncle she whispered in his ear,
"May Salo come soon, Uncle?"

This time the answer was a clear affirmative, and the child's heart was
filled with rapture.

"Oh, Aunt Maxa," he cried aloud, "Can't we sing our evening song up here?
I should love to sing the song my mother used to sing."

When consent was given, they grouped themselves about the Baron's chair
and sang:

God, Who disposes all things well,
I want but what Thou givest me.
Oh how can we Thine acts foretell,
When Thou are far more wise than we?

All the way home the children kept looking back at the castle, for their
day had been too marvellous.

The next day three letters were sent to Salo, one from Bruno and one from
Leonore, both full of enthusiasm about the great event of the day before;
and one from Mrs. Maxa. The last thrilled Salo most, because it
contained a summons for him to come to his new home.

The news that Baron Bruno had come back and that Apollonie had resumed
her old post at the castle had spread all over the neighborhood.
Everybody had heard that Loneli also was living at the castle, that Baron
Salo's daughter had come, and his son was soon to be there. The report
that Mrs. Rector Bergmann's whole family had spent a day at the castle
was reported, too, and everybody talked about the intimate friendship of
the two families.

A few days after the celebration at the castle the district attorney's
wife came to call on Mrs. Maxa. She lost no time in telling her hostess
that she counted on Baron Salo's son joining the other three lads in town
and that her husband had agreed to look up another room for him. She had
no doubt that the sons of the three most important families of Nolla
ought naturally to live and study together, and she knew that every
effort would be made to find Salo a suitable room, even if the
application came rather late. Mrs. Maxa did n