“There, we will go back to the seat again,” he said; “though the ruin is scarcely visible from here,” he added, as they reached the spot; “but it is safer. It is the most beautiful ruined castle that you can imagine. It is all covered with ivy, and the stones are moss-grown, and the gray walls show through in places, and in the setting sun they flame with crimson; you’ve no idea how beautiful it is! I saw it once from the steamboat. It was splendid! Now listen! The last lesson I took, the teacher asked me whether I was in earnest when I said that I wanted to be a painter; and I said yes, but that I could never be allowed to; and I told him just what I have told you. He understood at once; and he said that I mustn’t, of course, do anything to displease Mrs. Stanhope; but that possibly she might in some way be led to have the same wish. He advised me to make a drawing of something very beautiful; and he said he would send it to Düsseldorf, where they do something or other with a whole lot of drawings, and the best one gets a prize. If mine got a prize, Mrs. Stanhope might change her mind; and if it didn’t, I could try again. I thought directly of the ruined castle, and how beautiful it would be to draw! But there’s no good view of it except from the middle of the river, and it’s quite impossible for me to get there.” To Emma there was no such word as impossible. “Of course we can get there, Fani. What a delightful ideal” she cried. “We can make a trip on the steamboat, and we can see the river, and you must make a sketch of it as fast as you can.” “Oh, yes! I shall just get a few strokes on the paper, and then--whizz!--we shall be past it like a flash of lightning. What good would that do?” Emma was not to be discouraged. If the only thing needful was a way to take a sketch from the river, she would set herself to find such a way. At this moment Fani interrupted her meditations by the exclamation: “Oh, the bell! the bell!” and she heard the ringing of the supper-bell; and the two children scampered back to the house, and joined the scattered guests, who came from every direction to meet in the great dining-room. At the upper end of the table, spread with many delicious luxuries, sat Mrs. Stanhope, and she welcomed the children in the kindest manner. Aunt Clarissa seated them in their places, then sat down herself at the foot of the table, and the meal began. The guests brought wonderful appetites to the feast. The conversation was subdued, for in Mrs. Stanhope’s presence the children’s liveliness was somewhat checked. Elsli spoke least, and also partook least of the tempting viands. Her abstinence attracted the attention of Fred, who sat next her, and, in spite of a warning shove which she gave him under the table, to show him that she wished to avoid observation, he exclaimed in a loud whisper:-- “What’s the matter with you, Elsli? Why don’t you eat?”