I wonder at you, Lorischen, alarming me with your misgivings! I am sure I am anxious enough already about poor Eric." "Ach himmel! I meant no harm, dear lady," rejoined the other; "but, when one has thoughts, you know, they must find vent, and I've been dreaming of him the last three nights.

I do wish he were safe back again.

The house is not itself without him." "You are not the only one that thinks that," said Madame Dort.

"Why, even the very birds that come to be fed at the gallery window miss him! They won't take their bread crumbs from my hand as they used to do last winter from his; you remember how tame they were, and how they would hop on his shoulder when he opened the window and called them ?" "Aye, that do I, well! He was a kind lad to bird and beast alike.
There is my old cat, which another boy would have tormented according to the nature of all boys where poor cats are concerned; but Eric loved it, and petted it like myself! Many a time I see Mouser looking up at that model of his ship there, blinking his eyes as if he knew well where the young master is, for cats have deeper penetration than human folk give them credit for.

I heard him miaow-wowing this morning; and, when I went to look for him, there he was on the top of the stove, if you please, gazing up at the little ship, with his tail up in the air as stiff as a hair-brush! I couldn't make it out at all, and that's what made me so thoughtful to-day about the dear lad, especially as I'd dreamt of him, too." "My dear Lorischen, you absurd creature," laughed out Madame Dort.