"I shouldn't like to stay out in the dark woods all the time and make
charcoal," answered his sister. "I should get lonesome and long for
the sunlight."

"It isn't very easy work, either," said Hans. "After the trees have
been cut down, the pits have to be made with the greatest care, and
the wood must be burned just so slowly to change it into charcoal. I
once spent a day in the forest with some charcoal-burners. They told
such good stories that night came before I had thought of it."

"I can see the village ahead of us," said Bertha, joyfully.

A few minutes afterward, the children were running up the stone steps
of their own home.

"We had such a good time," Hans told his mother, while Bertha went to
Gretchen and gave her some cakes she had brought her from the
coffee-party.

"I'm so sorry you couldn't go," she told her sister.

"Perhaps I can next time," answered Gretchen. "But, of course, we
could not all leave mother when she had so much work to do. So I
just kept busy and tried to forget all about it."

"You dear, good Gretchen! I'm going to try to be as patient and
helpful as you are," said Bertha, kissing her sister.