"Then I told her I believed you were still in your room. Then she said,
still speaking very slowly, as if it was all learned, 'Will you be so
kind as to put those flowers just outside her room, so that she will get
them when she comes out?' And I said I would do that. Then she said, 'I
hope Miss Lind is very well;' and I said, 'Oh yes.' She stood for a
moment just then, Fraulein, as if not knowing whether to go away or not;
and then she asked again if you were quite well and strong and cheerful,
and again I said, 'Oh yes;' and no sooner had I said that than she put
something into my hand and went away. Would you believe it, Fraulein? it
was a sovereign--an English golden sovereign. And so I ran after her and
said, 'Lady, this is a mistake,' and I offered her the sovereign. That
was right, was it not, Fraulein?"

"Certainly."

"Well, she did not speak to me at all this time. I think the poor lady
has less English even than I myself; but she closed my hand over the
sovereign, and then patted me on the arm, and went away. It was then
that I looked after her. I said to myself, 'Well, there is only one lady
that I know who has a more beautiful figure than that--that is my
mistress.' But she was not so tall as you, Fraulein."

Natalie Lind paid no attention to this adroit piece of flattery on the
part of her little Saxon maid.

"It is very extraordinary, Anneli," she said, after awhile; then she
added, "I hope the piece of gold you have will not turn to dust and
ashes."

"Look at it, Fraulein," said Anneli, taking out her purse and producing