“But at least you must possess sufficient knowledge of the world to prevent you, in your youth, from leaving the high road, and wasting your time in useless dreaming.”

“Of dreaming, he who has nothing but his head and hands to depend on, must not be afraid.  If one wishes to enjoy pleasant dreams, he must not trouble his head about that which he is to eat when he awakes.”

“Good! good!” exclaimed Ulrica, “I hope that your wise plans will succeed, and I do not doubt but what they will, they are so well laid, and aside from that you are not striving for yourself alone, but for your parents, to whom I am sure you will always prove a dutiful and grateful child.”

“That is why I should become my father’s successor, dear aunt.  Had I not thought of this plan, I would undoubtedly have formed some other; but with this I am satisfied.”

“And do you intend to afford us the pleasure of your company this summer?” inquired uncle Fabian, abruptly.

“With your permission, dear uncle, your invitation arrived at a lucky moment, as it came during my vacation.”

“Well, well, nephew,” said Mrs. Ulrica, “we will go and prepare a chamber for you.”

“Nephew, nephew,” exclaimed Gottlieb, merrily, “why we look more like cousins!”

“You are a little wag!”

“O, I must say more.  My mother might have been your mother also, from all appearances.”

“Ah, I was a mere girl when she was married.  She was the eldest while I was the youngest of the family, and the fourteen years discrepancy between our ages accounts for the differences in our appearance.”

“And riches and fortune also,” added Gottlieb; “poor mother, misfortune has always been her lot; and although she has much trouble, she has nevertheless an angel’s forbearance.”

“Her disposition resembles mine more than her person does,” said Mrs. H——­, casting a glance of tender inquiry upon her husband.

“Yes, my dear,” replied he, “your angelic disposition and patience are well known.”

He well understood the smile with which his wife had accompanied her words.

“Good Fabian, you know how to appreciate your wife!”

“Sweet Ulgenie!”

Gottlieb glanced from his aunt to his uncle.

“Strange people these,” thought he.  “I think they are playing bo-peep with each other, or perhaps they are blinding me; well, I care not; so long as they do not disturb me, I will not meddle with their affairs.”

CHAPTER IV.

The attic-rooms.

As we have before stated, Nanna had supreme control over one of the attic-rooms of the cottage, and for a long time it had been a sanctuary in which she stored her precious things.

Old Mr. Lonner loved Nanna as the apple of his eye.  She was not only the youngest child, and consequently the favorite, but she also possessed strong perceptive qualities, and a heart susceptible of the tenderest emotions.  She was, so to speak, a living emblem of those harmonious dreams that her father in his youth had hoped to see realized.