Three or four times Keith went home with Harald. Then the gates of paradise were suddenly slammed in his face. One day, as they were leaving school together, Harald remarked quite calmly:
"You can't come home with me any more."
"Why," gasped Keith, his throat choking.
"Because mamma says I must find some one else to play with," Harald explained. Then he softened a little: "I can't help it, and I like you."
"But why," insisted Keith on the verge of tears.
"You look like a nice boy, mamma says, but your father is nothing but a vaktmästare, and mine is a grosshandlare (wholesale dealer)."
Keith walked home in a stupor and began to cry the moment he saw his mother. Her lips tightened and her face grew white as she listened to the story he sobbed forth.
"Now you can see that your father was right," she said at last. "Of course, we are just as good as anybody else, but others don't think so--because we are poor. But we have our pride, and you had better stay and play with your own soldiers hereafter. Then I don't have to worry about you either."
But Keith had very little pride. He continued to seek Harald's company as before, and twice, as they about to part in front of the latter's house, Keith asked if he couldn't come up and play for a little while.
"Don't you understand," Harald asked the second time, "that my mamma does not think you good enough for me to play with?"