IV
HANS AND GRETEL FIND A FRIEND
At noon our young friends poured forth from the schoolhouse intent upon having an hour's practicing upon the canal.
They had skated but a few moments when Carl Schummel said mockingly to Hilda:
"There's a pretty pair just coming upon the ice! The little rag-pickers! Their skates must have been a present from the king direct."
"They are patient creatures," said Hilda, gently. "It must have been hard to learn to skate upon such queer affairs. They are very poor peasants, you see. The boy has probably made the skates himself."
Carl was somewhat abashed.
"Patient they may be, but as for skating, they start off pretty well only to finish with a jerk. They could move well to your new staccato piece I think."