"Oh, mother," exclaimed Nicolaia when his mother had left the loom and taken up some knitting, "while we are working won't you sing some songs as you do when we're alone?" His mother's fair face flushed as she looked shyly at Mrs. Popescu. "I must get things ready for the mid-day meal," she said rising. As soon as her back was turned, Mrs. Popescu nodded to good-natured Maritza who understood and began to sing a song about a _heiduk_, the traditional hero of the Roumanian peasantry, a person as fascinating as our own Robin Hood. The song told how handsome he was, how winning his ways, how fearless his manner towards tyrants, how kind to the poor and unfortunate. Nicolaia's mother was back in her place before the maid finished. "That was very nice, dear," she remarked. "And now I can't do less than sing a song, too. It'll be about a woman, the bravest shepherdess that ever was seen." This was evidently a favorite with the children, for they joined in an odd refrain that occurred every once in a while. She had scarcely finished when the sun came out to announce that the rain was over. A moment after the door opened and her husband entered. CHAPTER VI AN EXCURSION During the meal that followed, the farmer turned to his son with: "You will have to go to the Convent for me this afternoon. I can't spare the time myself. And perhaps"--here he turned to Mrs. Popescu--"you and your son might like the trip. It would give you a chance to see one of our old-time institutions." Mrs. Popescu thanked him. "Nothing could be pleasanter," she said. Soon all three were seated on a rough timber cart with apparently nothing to hold it together. To the cart were harnessed two moody looking buffaloes with horns lying almost flat along their necks. The cart swayed and twisted up the rough road when suddenly Nicolaia gave an excited exclamation. They were just in the middle of one of the great swollen streams that flowed everywhere over the mountains. "What has happened?" asked Mrs. Popescu anxiously, for Nicolaia was standing up and urging the animals forward. Nicolaia gave a short, funny laugh. "The buffaloes want to take a bath," he answered, and again shouted at them. Fortunately, after a display of much stubbornness on their part, he did persuade them that neither the time nor the place was suitable for bathing, and they moved slowly on. After safely passing through all the ruts and bogs, the creaking cart at length stopped before what was called the "Guest House" on one side of an old half-deserted convent. A servant dressed in the national costume, with a wide hat on his long curling hair, came to meet them and bid them welcome. Later one of the inmates, an elderly woman in a loose brown dress, appeared bringing coffee, preserved fruit, and buffalo milk, which Jonitza thought had a very peculiar flavor.