Page:The grandmother; a story of country life in Bohemia.pdf/329

Rh picture that she had shown to Grandmother, in which Victorka was seen standing under a tree.

"She wants to do something for everybody, before she leaves; she would like to take all of you with her," smiled the Princess.

"What is better than to be among those that love us, what greater happiness than to make others happy?" said Grandmother.

The children thought it was a grand thing to have their pictures painted,—no one knew anything about Grandmother's,—they also looked forward with great eagerness to the gifts the Countess promised them, if they would sit very quiet. Grandmother watched how under the skillful hand of the artist the features of her loved ones appeared clearer and clearer, and reproved the children whenever they indulged some foolish habit. "Johnny, do not stand upon one foot, you will be lopsided! You, Barunka, don't wrinkle up your nose like a rabbit, how you would look! Willie, don't raise your shoulders all the time as a goose raises her wings when she loses a quill!" But when Adelka forgot herself so far as to put her index finger into her mouth, then Grandmother scolded: "Are you not ashamed, a maid big enough to cut her own bread! Some day I must sprinkle some pepper upon it."

The Countess enjoyed her work very much and had many a hearty laugh at the children's expense. Indeed, she seemed to grow brighter every day, so that Grandmother remarked that she appeared to her not so much like a rose as like the buds of an