sight of the snow
makes you cry for joy, and a spoon is used for your drops if you are ill,
and you always want snowdrops to-morrow."

Mamma had failed! "Not Snowdrops; no!" screamed Hunne, almost beside
himself with delight.

"I guess it is _ice-cream_," said Mr. Birkenfeld. "Ice makes me cry
sometimes, it is so cold. Cream certainly needs a spoon, and I have often
heard the cry, 'To-morrow please,' when ice-cream has been mentioned."

Hunne spun round with delight. "No, no!" he shouted. It was almost too
good to be true, that his father should have missed it too. He scampered
about crying out to everyone, "Guess! guess!"

Rolf was really vexed not to be able to see through this simple little
"Hunne riddle" as he called it; and was mortified to perceive that he had
made a worse guess than any one.

Meantime the days were passing. One morning at breakfast Uncle Titus said,

"My dear Ninette, our last week is drawing near. What should you say if we
put off going home, another fortnight? I feel remarkably well here, no
dizziness at all, and an extraordinary increase of strength in my legs!"

"You show it in your looks, my dear Titus--" said his wife tenderly, "you
look ten years younger, at the very least, than when we came here."

"And to my mind, this way of living has done you a world of good too, my
dear Ninette;" replied he, "It seems to me that you find much less to
lament over of late."

"Everything is so different," she answered; "It seems to me that
everything has changed. The noise of the children even doesn't seem the
same, now that I know each one of them. I must say that I am very glad
that we didn't leave here that first week; I feel the loss of something
pleasant now when I do not hear the children's voices, and I am always a
little uneasy if it is perfectly quiet in the garden."

"It is just so with me," said Uncle Titus, "and I cannot get through an
evening with any satisfaction unless that bright boy has been in to see
me, full of impatience to tell me what he has been about during the day,
and eager to hear the enigmas I have to give him. It is a perfect pleasure
to have such a young fellow about one."

"My dear Titus, you are growing younger every day. We will certainly stay
longer," said Aunt Ninette decidedly, "just as long as we conveniently
can. I'm sure even the doctor did not expect such good results from one
country visit; it is almost miraculous!"

Dora lost no time in carrying the