CHAPTER XIV.
Only those who know the supremacy of the Intellectual life--the life which has a seed of ennobling thought and purpose within it--can understand the grief of one who falls from that serene activity into the absorbing soul-wasting struggle with worldly annoyances .-- GEORGE ELIOT.
Hester in the meanwhile was expressing wonder and astonishment at the purchases of the children, who, with the exception of Mary, had spent their little all on presents for Fraeulein, whose birthday was on the morrow.

After Mary's tiny white bone umbrella had been discovered to be a needle-case, and most of the needles had been recovered from the floor, Regie extracted from its paper a little china cow.

But, alas! the cow's ears and horns remained in the bag, owing possibly to the incessant passage of the parcel from one pocket to another on the way home.

Regie looked at the remnants in the bag, and his lip quivered, while Mary, her own umbrella safely warehoused, exclaimed, "Oh, Regie!" in tones of piercing reproach.
But Hester quickly suggested that she could put them on again quite easily, and Fraeulein would like it just as much.

Still, it was a blow.
Regie leaned his head against Hester's shoulder.
Hester pressed her cheek against his little dark head.