ship. The result was that she took the latter wherever it was to be found.
About that time, for instance, there came a young girl to the sewing-school, who went by the name of Lise Let; that is to say, her name was Lise, but not Let, for Let was the name of a young midshipman who had been home in the Christmas vacation, and had become engaged to Lise on the ice when she was a mere school-girl. Lise would stake her life that this was not true, and the tears came the moment it was mentioned; nevertheless, she was ever after called Lise Let. Fragile little Lise Let wept often and laughed often; but whether she wept or laughed her thoughts ran on love. New, strange thoughts, swarming like bees, soon filled the whole sewing-school. If a hand was stretched out for the reel, it was going courting, and the reel favored or rejected the suit; the needle became engaged to the thread, and the thread sacrificed itself, stitch by stitch, for the cruel one; if a girl pricked herself she was shedding her heart’s blood, and the one who changed needles was faithless. Did two girls whisper together, it must be about something remarkable that had happened to them; soon two more would fall to whispering, then two more; each one had her confidant, and there
