When he had cleared his plate, which was done very quickly, he looked slyly at the plates of his brother and sister, for he knew that the second supply of the things on the table came only after all three had finished their first.

When he looked at Sally, his eyes stayed on her, and after he had watched her attentively for some time, he said: "Sally, you keep on swallowing as much as you can, but you see, nothing can go down, because you have put nothing into your mouth, and your plate stays filled." Now Sally could not restrain her tears longer, for she had with great difficulty swallowed them, and had been very quiet.

Now she burst out into loud sobbing and said through her tears: "Poor Erick, too, cannot eat today.

Now he has neither father nor mother and is all alone in the world." Sally's weeping grew louder and louder, for she could not stop, since she had restrained herself so long.

Ritz looked, surprised and startled, from one to the other; he did not quite understand whether he was to blame for this.