looked like.

He shook the little girl's hand with all his might.

"Can you guess why I am taking you up there?"

A head was raised up and two sharp eyes were directed towards her.

It seemed to crown all the preceding pleasures to roam without restraint
in the woods and meadows.



CHAPTER I

IN NOLLA

For nearly twenty years the fine old castle had stood silent and deserted
on the mountain-side. In its neighborhood not a sound could be heard
except the twittering of the birds and the soughing of the old
pine-trees. On bright summer evenings the swallows whizzed as before
about the corner gables, but no more merry eyes looked down from the
balconies to the green meadows and richly laden apple trees in the
valley.

But just now two merry eyes were searchingly raised to the castle from
the meadow below, as if they might discover something extraordinary
behind the fast-closed shutters.

"Mea, come quick," the young spy exclaimed excitedly, "look! Now it's