"Elsa's big sister, who went to England last year, says that English children do not have to learn to knit and sew and embroider just as they learn their geography and spelling. Why do I have to learn to do these things, when my father could buy them for me?" asked Sigrid. Just then, Sigrid dropped a stitch in her knitting, and had to unravel two rows before Miss Eklund could reply. "Even though your mother lived in a beautiful house and her father was very rich, she also learned to knit and sew and crochet. You must know how to do these things so you will be able to take care of your own home when you grow up. But it is time for dinner now and I hear your mother's callers going. Make haste and put your knitting away lest she see her present." Every morning, Sigrid had an early breakfast with her brother Erik, who went to a private school. He was studying very hard to go to the university at Upsala. Then she must study her lessons and learn many of the same things which her governess had been taught in the long winter months on the farm. And after that came her gymnastic exercises every day, as much a lesson as her reading and spelling. "Erik," called Sigrid, after dinner, as her brother walked past the nursery. Though he was only three years older than his sister, he was a tall, sturdy boy, and Sigrid felt very proud of him. She beckoned him to a quiet corner where they could whisper unobserved. "I have a surprise for mother. Miss Eklund has taught me to knit, and mother does not know yet. If I can get it finished, it is going to be a cozy for Christmas." "That's fine," said Erik, "but you wait till I show you something which I learned to make in my sloyd class at school." Erik glanced around cautiously. Nobody was in sight, so he drew a carved tray from his school-bag. "Oh, it's beautiful!" and Sigrid clapped her hands with glee. "How could you make it? Why, it is just like an old Viking ship with the dragon's head peering at you from the prow. And you have made the sides like the scales of some strange monster. Mother will be so delighted. "It must be splendid to be a big boy and go to your school," continued Sigrid. "You do such interesting things. I wish that I could go on a school journey with my teacher for two or three days and see some of our wonderful old castles, as you do. Mother says perhaps Miss Eklund and I may go with her and father when they go through the Göta Canal to Göteborg, next summer, to visit Aunt Frederika. That will be better than a school journey." "But, Sigrid, there are many wonderful things to see right here in our own beautiful Stockholm," said Erik. "Many school-children come here every spring with their teachers." "Sometime you promised you would tell me an old saga about Stockholm before there was any city here," said Sigrid. "Oh, you mean about King Agne," said Erik. "Once father pointed out to me the place where he was supposed to have landed with his ships, so I always like that story."