h."

"Why do we never go to church?"

"Because we profess a different belief from that acknowledged by those
persons who attend this church."

"Do they pray to a different God from ours?"

"No; they pray to the same God."

"Then why should n't we all go to the same church?"

Unable longer to control himself, Ludwig took the shrewd little
child-head between his hands, and said tenderly:

"My darling! my little queen! not all the synods of the four quarters of
the globe could answer thy questions--let alone this poor forgotten
soldier!"

"There! thou always pretendest to be stupid when I want to borrow a
little bit of thy wisdom. Thou art like the rich man who tells the
beggar that he has no money. By the way, I must not forget that I
always send money to the poor children on my birthday. Come, tell me
which of the heaps I shall send to-day--these small coins, or these
large ones? If thou thinkest I ought to send these little yellow ones, I
have no objections. I think I prefer to keep the white coins, they have
such a musical sound; besides, they have the image of the Virgin. If
thou thinkest I ought to send some of the large red ones, too, I will do
so."

The "little yellow ones" were gold sovereigns; the "white coins" were
silver _Zwanziger_; and the "large red ones" were copper medals of the
Austrian minister of finance, worth half a guilder.

"We will send some of the small coins and some of the large ones,"
decided Ludwig, smiling at the little maid's ignorance of the value of
the money.

CHAPTER III

Tradition maintained that many years before, during the preceding
century, the tongue of land now occupied by the Nameless Castle was part
of the lake; and it may have been true, for Neusiedl Lake is a very
capricious body of water. During the past two decades we ourselves have
seen a greater portion of the lake suddenly recede, leaving dry land
where once had been several feet of water. The owners of what had once
been the shore took possession of the dry lake bottom; they used it for
meadows and pastures; leased it, and the lessees built farm-houses and
steam-mills on the "new ground." They cultivated wheat and maize, and
for many years harvested two crops a year. Suddenly the lake took a
notion to occupy its old bed again; and when the water had resumed its
former level, fields and farms had vanished beneath the green flood;
only here and there the top of a chimney indicated where a steam-mill