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'I beg, Ma'am, you won't trouble yourself about me, was the gracious reply; 'if I chose to sit by the fire, I should do so: I suppose the princess would not order me out! this was said with such a strange kind of hysterical laugh, that Friskarina thought she was going to burst into a fit of crying. 'Come, she said, kindly, 'don't be so unhappy, my dear Glumdalkin!
Nothing could well be more desolate. Suddenly, the door of one of them opened, and an old woman came out, followed by Friskarina's new friend, the unhappy cat. Such an old woman Friskarina had never beheld, nor imagined, before.
'And do you mean to say, screamed Glumdalkin, 'that, at my time of life, I'm to be dictated to by a young thing like the princess, and that I can't be trusted to eat my dinner? No, indeed, I won't submit to it! I'm not going to bear such indignities! The princess will find out her mistake when I am gone. 'But, said Friskarina, very gently, 'what can you do?
Presently Friskarina sprung up on her knee with a little sympathetic mew; she had been too miserable as yet to notice even her favorite cat very much, now a scarcely perceptible shade of relief came to her sadness, she stroked the soft gray head. But scarcely had she spoken to her favorite, when the cat suddenly turned away, sprung from her knee and trotted out of the room.
What did little Friskarina dream about? I can't tell you; but the first thing she thought of, when she awoke in the morning, was poor Tibb, and the wretched cold bed she had that night how different from her own, with its nice soft warm cushions.
'And so the princess and Friskarina went on living together in the palace? Why no, not exactly: but you shall hear about it.
But some time passed before either said anything; at last, Glumdalkin gave a great yawn, and flapping her tail rather angrily against the cushion, remarked: 'Really, Friskarina, you are dreadfully stupid, to-night; you make noise enough when I want to go to sleep: but now, when I am inclined for a little rational conversation, you sit there as mum and sulky as an old bear.
Now, Erica's father thought scarcely anything about what he ate it was indeed upon record that he had once in a fit of absence dined upon a plate of scraps intended for Friskarina, while engaged in some scientific discussion with the professor. Mr.
Glumdalkin was, somehow or other, second cousin once removed to Friskarina, but years older; and, to say the truth, Friskarina was not very fond of her: however, in consideration of her age and relationship, she behaved on the whole very civilly and respectfully to her. They were so very different. And there was not the least family likeness, either, in their persons.
She read hard, attended lectures, and twice a week taught in the night school attached to the Institute. Charles Osmond could not help smiling as she described her days to him. She still retained something of the childishness of an Undine, and as they talked she had taken up her old position on the hearth rug, and Friskarina had crept on to her knee.
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