117“You are going to be so near my home all summer, and I’m going away, myself.”
“But you are going to Winsted and Catherine. Don’t forget that. And I shall be at Brookmeadow still when you come home. Hannah, Hannah, haven’t you learned yet that one can’t have everything that is delightful all at once?”
“I suppose you mean about sorrows making you appreciate blessings and so on,” pouted Hannah. “But I don’t believe it. I know I could be happy all the time, if I could have all the things I want just when I want them!”
Miss Lyndesay did not smile. “Perhaps you could!” she said slowly. “You will never have a chance to prove it. It’s not within the limits of possibility. But I had an idea, Hannah, that you were one of the people who could manage pretty well to be happy with things as they came.”
Hannah flushed and buried her face on Miss Lyndesay’s shoulder. Frieda looked restless.
“Bitte, sprechen Sie mal Deutsch,” she said suddenly. “Es tut mir furchtbar weh, immer Englisch zu hören!”
Quick as a flash Hannah’s head came up, and she laughed a delicious laugh. “Poor Frieda,” she said in German, “does it hurt you awfully to hear English all the time? There! There! I know how you feel. Did you talk German to her coming over, Miss Lyndesay?”
118Miss Lyndesay looked guilty. “I’m afraid I did. You see, it was such a fine opportunity for me to practise, and I didn’t want her to be homesick, as well as–”
“I was not seasick,” declared Frieda stoutly, and both the others laughed.
“I have crossed the seas full many times,” said Clara Lyndesay smiling, “but never have I known any one who was seasick! But to change the subject, it’s almost time for Karl to be back to take you to the train, children; and Frieda has a spot on her coat which I can remove if you will open my suitcase, Hannah, and bring me the little bottle of benzine in the left-hand corner. Mrs. Eldred must not think I have brought her an untidy little Mädchen!”