_Invisible Links_, a collection of short stories, was published in 1894, with peasants, fisherfolk, children, and animals all “linked” in interrelations of spirit; Miss Lagerlöf then received a yearly stipend for her services to literature, through the friendly interest of the Swedish Academy and King Oscar and his son, Prince Eugen. With a friend she went to Italy and Sicily, gaining impressions that bore harvest in _Miracles of Antichrist_, issued in 1897 and translated into English two years later by Pauline Bancroft Flach, who had done the same service for _The Story of Gösta Berling_ and _Invisible Links_. Mingling traditions and poetry of old Sicily with reactions to modern socialism and its effects upon established religion, Miss Lagerlöf wrote with deep fervor and colorful imagination. The slight plot is evolved about the ruse of the Englishwoman who coveted an image of Christ as a child, in a church in Rome, and substituted an image, seemingly the same but with the legend upon the crown, “My Kingdom is only of this World.” By a miracle, a few weeks later, the false image is cast down and the true Christchild stands in the doorway. The Antichrist is taken away to Sicily where miracles of helpfulness are recorded by its agnostic followers. Miss Lagerlöf seeks to preach, through the words of the Pope to Father Gondo, the ideal of unity between Christianity and antichristianity: “You could take the great popular movement in your arms, while it is still lying like a child in its swaddling clothes, and you could bear it to Jesus’ feet; and Antichrist would see that he is nothing but an imitation of Christ, and would acknowledge him his Lord and Master.”[69] _From a Swedish Homestead_, which was published in 1899, contains the strong, mystical novelette, “The Story of a Country House.” A student at Upsala University loses his reason as a result of seeing his flock of sheep frozen to death in a storm when, by his forethought, the tragedy might have been averted. Known as “The Goat,” he wanders about the countryside, selling toys and trinkets, until his redemption and sanity are achieved through his love for a girl of noble character. Among the other short tales in this same volume is “Santa Catarina of Siena,” a reflection of the Italian trip, and “The Emperor’s Money Chest,” which is allegorical yet photographic of Belgium in an industrial crisis.