In a few weeks all the worst time was over, but, of course, there was no
idea now of my going home.

I wonder if grandmamma ever thought, in the early spring, that for a
whole year she was to have her house full of children! For a long time
we fancied every week that we should hear of aunt and uncle coming home.
Every now and then Lottie and I would fret a little bit at the idea of
parting, but still it did not come.

One morning brought a letter for Lottie, with a great deal of news in
it. She read it to me in the nursery, as we were having our hair brushed
for the evening in the drawing-room. It told us that her papa had just
made up his mind to take the work of a clergyman in a more
out-of-the-way part, somewhere between Switzerland and Germany, and that
it was just the place to suit her mamma, so they would probably stay
there till Christmas. Besides, there were some little German cousins of
Lottie's living close by with their aunt, so there was a great deal to
tell altogether. We were very eager talking about little Heinrich and
Carl--so eager that at first we never noticed that Susette had thrown
herself into a chair with clasped hands, and her black eyes full of
tears. When we came to question her, she said Monsieur and Madame had
gone to a place close to her native village, and would they--oh, would
they--see her poor, poor father, in the misery extreme, frightful! We
were quite used to Susette now, and not at all surprised at her
passionate manner; and if we did a little smile to each other at that
favourite word "affreuse," yet Lottie was eager and sincere enough in
her assurances that certainly papa would go and look for the poor
family. Out came the foreign paper at once, and if the summons to the
dining-room had not come at that moment, I believe the letter would
have been written there and then. As it was, it certainly went the next
day. It was our first piece of anything like charity, and we waited
eagerly for the answer from Lottie's papa, which, of course, did not
arrive directly it was wanted.

At last the morning came, when the postman, met by three eager children
half-way down the drive, was greeted by the happy cry, "Oh, there it is!
I see it in his hand!" And the much-longed-for prize was snatched from
him, and triumphantly carried off to the nursery.

"Oh, children, do keep off! You must let Susette hear!" cried Lottie,
and then she read this. But first let me say that this wonderful letter,