"Daughter!" "Daughter!" "Father!" passed like low, heavenly tones, between them.

"All that's good, and right, and very beautiful!" was now heard from a not unfriendly, but somewhat scolding voice at the door. "But come now, is not Rosa to be any longer with me, is she never again to be at hand when she is wanted? There,

I have been all alone in the kitchen waiting for her for above an hour, that she might help me to get the bread ready for to-morrow! The dough has risen nicely!"

It was a little, elderly woman, round and rosy, who said this, as she stood in the door-way with her arms crossed over a very protuberant person.

"Ah! forgive me, dear aunt! I forgot;-but I'm coming this minute," exclaimed Rosa, and hastily brushing away the tears which hung on her eye-lashes, cheerfully followed the Dean's widow, Karin Carlander, into the kitchen.

PREPARATIONS FOR THE FEAST.

"PETTERSON!"

"Mrs. Carlander!"

"Petterson! Do ye hear! Get your arms and legs in readiness, and everything in movemang, for we're in a desperate hurry. Isst Cats! Down Moppe! -Call the girls and tell them to come and help me to pack the eatables!-Out Misse!--And call little Johanna that she-nay, what's amiss now? -Are you poorly? What's amiss?-Pain in your stomach! Come, come, you shall have my head-remedy for the stomach; or, first of all, a couple of table-spoonfuls of physic,' and you'll soon be better. It is not worth looking ready-to-hang-yourself, Petterson, but- Dora and Cora! Where are those seven-sleepers? Not yet dressed? Well, make haste, make haste, or you

shall have some of my 'physic.'

Don't begin

laughing in that way, Dora; but get yourself dressed quickly, and come here, quick as lightning. Run, Petterson, and call me hither Miss Rosa, and tell her to bring me here, out of my doctor's shop, the bottle with, 'physic' upon it; she knows which it is. And d'ye hear, Petterson, you go and fetch me here the bottle-basket, and mind that the bottles are well corked, so that they do not come out by the way, and make a pretty mess. Get out, dogs! Be still, Koja! She makes such a noise one cannot hear oneself speak! Ah! the poor beasts! See here, Rosa! Rosa, my little hen, fetch out of my doctor's shop that stopper-bottle, with 'physic' on it; you know which it is, that excellent decoction of hop, and go and give little Johanna a good table-spoonful, and let her rub her stomach with some as well, and she 'll soon be all right again. -Down dog! Get out! And Petterson, see that the horses are well shod-and has Polle had my remedy against cold? Very good; now, mind you that the horses are in the carriage, and everything ready at eight o'clock precisely. The Professor

likes that every thing is done to the minute. And, Petterson, take my cloak, 'the slave,' as I call it, you know which, and brush it well, and bring it me here again. And, now, just give the parrot a biscuit as you go by; she is screaming, Breakfast! Breakfast! as loud as she can. She is hungry, poor thing! There, now, run away, Petterson, and come quick back again, and help to carry out the baskets to the carriage. Down Moppe; get out, dogs!-D'ye hear, Petterson?"

Thus did the Dean's widow, Karin Carlander, issue her orders and her commands early in the morning of Midsummer Day, in preparation of the day's festivities.

"Yes, yes; I hear, I hear!" muttered Petterson as he went out; "but one ought to be a scheni to be able to do and look after everything that Mrs. Carlander will. As for her, she is a regular original scheni, and one must have scheni oneself if one is to get on with her! One must be a regular all in all !"

"Every one in his place!" exclaimed Mrs. Carlander, "There you are at last, my maidens! You

ought to be ashamed of yourselves sleeping so late; when Rosa, who sits up of an evening with her father, is always up so early in a morning! Now, lay the meat nicely in the bottom of the great basket, and the cake, and the biscuits, on the top. Ah, I wish I could only eat them, as you can, children; but Malakoff begins to be a little loose, and I dare not trust to Sebastopol (these were the names which the good widow had given to her eyeteeth, the two fortresses of her mouth)-and so I am obliged to content myself with soft bread. Fetch me here the little loaves, Cora! Down Moppe! get out, dogs! Ah, there's Rosa now! Well, my chicken, and how is Johanna? Better! Yes, I knew she would soon be all right. My decoction helps almost immediately. It is wonderful! Give me the bottle here; for I always take it with me when I travel. My 'physic' is good, taken either outwards or inwards. Are the little loaves now laid in? and the coffee and sugar and salt, and we must mind and leave nothing behind us, my good girls, for Rosa won't find us any thing at her Östervi, excepting fresh air and flowers!"