or, The Silver Skates 297

blue eyes, and the lips, and, ah, me ! the little song she could
sing almost before she could stand. But that was long ago,”
he added with a sigh, still looking at her dreamily, — “ long
ago: it’s all gone now. ”

“‘ Not so, indeed!”’ cried Dame Brinker, eagerly. “ Do you
think I would let her forget it? Gretel, child, sing the old
song thou hast known so long.”

Raff Brinker’s hands fell wearily, and his eyes closed; but
it was something to see the smile playing about his mouth, as
Gretel’s voice floated about him like an incense.

It was a simple air: she had never known the words.

With loving instinct she softened every note, until Raff
almost fancied that his two-year-old baby was once more
beside him.

As soon as_ the song was finished, Hans, laughing softly,
mounted a wooden stool, and began to rummage in the cup-
board.

“© Have a care, Hans,” said Dame Brinker, who, through all
her poverty, was ever a tidy housewife, — “have a care: the
wine is there at your right, and the white bread beyond it.”

“« Never fear, mother,’ answered Hans, reaching far back
on an upper shelf: ‘I shall do no mischief.”

Jumping down, he walked toward his father, and placed an
oblong block of pine wood in his hands. One of its ends was
rounded off; and some deep cuts had been made on the top.

“ Do you know what it is, father?” asked Hans.

Raff Brinker’s face brightened. “ Indeed, I do, boy! It
is the boat I was making you yest — alack, not yesterday, but
years ago.”

“T have kept it ever since, father: it can be finished when
your hand grows strong again.”