Time passed quickly at the two houses, in this new and happy companionship.  
"Another week gone already!" and "Sunday again so soon!" were the heard on every side, as each week went by. And Dora was the happiest of all; the days fairly danced with her: they certainly had not more than half as many hours as they had had in Karlsruhe, and every evening she was sorry to have to go to bed, and lose in sleep so much of the little time that remained of her visit. If she could only have passed the whole night at the piano, practising while the others were sleeping, she thought she could have nothing more to desire. Her arm was now wholly healed, and she was taking music-lessons with a kind of ; and in Lili she had a teacher whose equaled her own. A most agreeable teacher too, who did not trouble her pupil with finger-exercises and scales, but gave her at once without more ado; and first of course the favorite, "Live thy life merrily." Dora learned the air very quickly with the right hand, and Lili did not require her to learn the left hand yet; declaring that it was quite too difficult to play both together. All this playing-teacher was so improving to Lili, that she began to make wonderful progress herself, so that Miss Hanenwinkel was equally surprised and pleased at her improvement, and her mother often paused outside of the school-room door to listen to the firm but lively touch with which her little daughter rendered her studies; for Lili had really great talent for music, and now that a sufficient had been , she advanced rapidly.
 
Paula was in a state of blessedness all day long. She had found a friend, and such a friend! The reality of this friendship far surpassed her imagination and her hopes, for such a one as Dora she could not have conceived of; one who was so attractive not only to her, but to every member of the family. Like Dora, Paula the hours passed in sleep, now that there were so few left that they could spend together.
 
Rolf had abandoned his old plan of -making, and had started on an new system, and he spent his leisure hours striding up and down certain of the garden-walks, sunk in thought with his hands clasped behind his back, and so lost to outward things that Hunne was charged to keep away from these paths; for more than once he was almost run down by his brother. A new set of was now ready every evening for Uncle Titus, who was always waiting for his young friend in the summer-house, prepared to guess, and showing skill in finding out even the most intricate puzzles; and as a natural result, Rolf grew more and more clever in making them. Before long, Uncle Titus began to give riddles himself in return, and his were carefully written out; for they required serious study, as they were in Latin. Rolf carried these home to his father and Jule, but they would not even try to guess them. Mr. Ehrenreich declared that his Latin was quite too for such work as this, and Jule maintained that during vacation he did not dare to tax his brain unnecessarily; he needed all his wits for his serious work next term. So Rolf worked away by himself, dictionary in hand, and twisted and turned the words till he out their meaning. Then he showed them with triumph to his father and brother, and in the evening carried them to Uncle Titus. The pleasure which his kind old friend took in his success spurred the boy on to greater activity. He studied not only the riddles themselves, but his Latin lessons more earnestly, and he took to early rising, and every morning before breakfast he worked with his in the garden, as if his depended on the solution of Latin puzzles.
 
Hunne too was a lucky boy in these days, for no matter how often or how long he hung upon Dora, and claimed her as his own property, never once did the good-natured girl avoid or her little friend; but always lent herself to his wishes, and took so much pains to amuse him, that it seemed as if she found her own pleasure in pleasing him. Mrs. Birkenfeld had persuaded Aunt Ninette to leave Dora entirely at liberty both morning and evening, and when in the afternoon she took her sewing and sat with the family under the apple-tree, she found that even shirt-making might be an agreeable occupation, under such favorable circumstances as these.
 
One day Dora made a new for Hunne; for indeed his "nut-cracker" one had become rather an old story; yet he couldn't bear to give up riddle-giving. To his unspeakable joy this new riddle had a experience, quite in the family annals—no one could guess it. This time nobody could turn him off with, "Oh, go away with that same old charade." For as no one knew the answer, no one could laugh at the little questioner, and he and Dora agreed not to give the slightest hint that might lead to the right guess, and so put an end to this state of things.
 
The riddle was this:
 
"My first makes you cry—not for sorrow,
For my second a spoon you may borrow,
To my whole, you say, 'thank you—to-morrow.'"
What could it be? Julius said it was "Hot-tea, because if the tea is very hot and you try to drink it, the tears start to your eyes, and then you cool it with a spoon, and you would like to let it stand till to-morrow."
 
Hunne jumped for joy, crying "Wrong, wrong!"
 
Miss Hanenwinkel suggested "Plum-jam," because Hunne often cried when he couldn't have plums, and everybody ate jam with a spoon, and if plum-jam was not on the supper-table to-night, it was sure to be, to-morrow.
 
"Wrong! wrong!" cried Hunne again.
 
"Well, I guess Tear-ful," said Rolf; but that was even worse than the others.
 
"I think it may be Snow-drop," said the mother. "The sight of the snow makes you cry for joy, and a spoon is used for your drops if you are ill, and you always want snowdrops to-morrow."
 
Mamma had failed! "Not Snowdrops; no!" screamed Hunne, almost beside himself with delight.
 
"I guess it is ice-cream," said Mr. Birkenfeld. "Ice makes me cry sometimes, it is so cold. Cream certainly needs a spoon, and I have often heard the cry, 'To-morrow please,' when ice-cream has been mentioned."
 
Hunne round with delight. "No, no!" he shouted. It was almost too good to be true, that his father should have missed it too. He about crying out to everyone, "Guess! guess!"
 
Rolf was really not to be able to see through this simple little "Hunne riddle" as he called it; and was to perceive that he had made a worse guess than any one.
 
Meantime the days were passing. One morning at breakfast Uncle Titus said,
 
"My dear Ninette, our last week is drawing near. What should you say if we put off going home, another fortnight? I feel well here, no dizziness at all, and an extraordinary increase of strength in my legs!"
 
"You show it in your looks, my dear Titus—" said his wife tenderly, "you look ten years younger, at the very least, than when we came here."
 
"And to my mind, this way of living has done you a world of good too, my dear Ninette;" replied he, "It seems to me that you find much less to over of late."
 
"Everything is so different," she answered; "It seems to me that everything has changed. The noise of the children even doesn't seem the same, now that I know each one of them. I must say that I am very glad that we didn't leave here that first week; I feel the loss of something pleasant now when I do not hear the children's voices, and I am always a little uneasy if it is quiet in the garden."
 
"It is just so with me," said Uncle Titus, "and I cannot get through an evening with any satisfaction unless that bright boy has been in to see me, full of to tell me what he has been about during the day, and eager to hear the I have to give him. It is a perfect pleasure to have such a young fellow about one."
 
"My dear Titus, you are growing younger every day. We will certainly stay longer," said Aunt Ninette decidedly, "just as long as we conveniently can. I'm sure even the doctor did not expect such good results from one country visit; it is almost !"
 
Dora lost no time in carrying the news of this decision to Paula, for in her inmost heart she had been very unhappy at the thought of going away so soon. How could she live, away from all this dear family with whom she had learned to feel so entirely at home? She thought that when the day of separation came her heart would surely break.
 
When the good news of Dora's longer stay among them spread through the family, there was general rejoicing, and the little girl was in danger of being fairly hugged to death by her friends.
 
That evening after the children were all safely in bed, and Miss Hanenwinkel had to her own room, Mr. and Mrs. Birkenfeld sat together upon the sofa, talking. This was the only quiet time that they could count upon in the course of the day, when they could talk over the needs, the pleasures and the pains, of their large and busy family. They were talking now about the decision of their new friends, and Mrs. Birkenfeld expressed her great satisfaction with it, adding,
 
"I cannot bear to think of losing Dora. She has grown very dear to me. What a real that child has been in the family! She leaves her mark wherever she goes, and always for good. Wherever I turn I find some new evidence of her beneficial influence. And to me personally she is particularly attractive; I can't understand exactly why, but whenever I look into her eyes, I feel as if I had known her for a long time, and as if we had been sympathetic friends in days gone by."
 
"Ah, my dear wife, how often I have heard you say that whenever you feel a particular friendship for any one. I perfectly that after we had known each other a little while, you said it seemed to you as if we had been intimately acquainted some time before."
 
"Well, suppose I did, you most tease," said his wife, "you cannot convince me to the contrary, nor can you take away the fact that Dora is dear and delightful, not only to me, but to all the family besides. Paula goes about beaming like the sunshine, and with no trace of her usual discontent. Jule pulls off his own riding-boots without stirring up the whole house about it; Rolf is so full of interest in his pursuits that he has not a moment of idleness all day long; Lili has developed a love for music and a talent for playing the piano, that we never dreamed she ; and little Hunne has become so gentle and so at his games, that it is a pleasure just to look at the child."
 
"I think too," said Mr. Birkenfeld, "that it is because of Dora's being with us, that there has been a cessation of those that the twins were always at, and that kept the house in a constant state of excitement."
 
"I have not the least doubt of it;" said his wife, "Dora has aroused in Lili an enthusiasm for music, and all the child's lively energy is turned into that channel. Wili follows his sister's lead, and they are both therefore so busy that they have not even a thought for ."
 
"Dora is certainly an child and I am very sorry she is to leave us so soon;" said Mr. Birkenfeld regretfully.
 
"That is what is weighing upon my mind," said his wife, "I am constantly trying to devise some plan for prolonging her stay still farther."
 
"No, no;" said her husband, decidedly, "we can't do anything about that. We don't know these people well enough to try to influence their movements. They must go away now, but perhaps next year we may see them here again."
 
Mrs. Birkenfeld sighed; there was a long winter to come, and there seemed to her to be but little chance of the visit being repeated.
 
The day for the departure was Monday, and on the day before there was to be a grand feast, a farewell festival; though to tell the truth, none of them felt much like making a . Rolf alone was in............