ey nudged one another and hushed. She had caught only a few
words, spoken by a youth whose back was turned to her, and who had
not seen her.

"And to think that she was clothed in satin!" he said.

Instantly a young girl gave him a push that silenced him, then,
glancing round, he saw Katrina just behind him and his face went
red as blood; but immediately after he tossed his head, and said in
a loud voice:

"What's the matter with you? Why can't I be allowed to say that the
queen was arrayed in satin?"

When he said that the young people laughed louder than ever. Then
Katrina went her way, unable to bring herself to question them. And
when she came home she was so unhappy that Jan was almost tempted
to come out with the truth about Glory Goldie; but on second
thought, he asked her to tell him again what had been said about
the queen.

Katrina did so, but added: "You understand of course that that was
only said to sweeten the pill for me."

Jan meanwhile kept mum. But he could not help smiling to himself.

"What are you thinking about?" asked Katrina. "You have such a
queer look on your face these days. You don't know what they meant,
do you?"

"I certainly don't," answered Jan. "But we ought to have enough
confidence in the little girl to think all is as it should be."

"But I'm getting so anxious--"

"The time to speak," Jan struck in, "has not come, either for them
or me. Glory Goldie herself has probably requested them not to say
anything to us, So we must rest easy, Katrina, indeed we must."

STARS

When the little girl had been gone nearly eight months, who should
come stalking into the barn at Falla one fine day, while Jan stood
threshing there, but Mad Ingeborg!

Mad Ingeborg was first cousin to Jan. But as she was afraid of
Katrina he seldom saw her. It was to escape meeting Jan's wife that
she had sought him out at Falla during his work hours.

Jan was none too pleased to see Ingeborg! She was not exactly
insane, but flighty--and a terrible chatterer. He went right on
with his work, taking no notice of her.

"Stop your threshing, Jan!" she said, "so that I can tell you what
I dreamed about you last night."

"You'd better come some other time, Ingeborg," Jan suggested. "If
Lars Gunnarson hears that I'm resting from my work he'll be sure to
come over to see what's up."

"I'll be as quick as quick can be. If you remember, I was the
brightest child in our family, which doesn't give me much