hilda came over to the blue house one day. jan’s mother was busy. she was washing her pretty blue dishes. she was all alone.

“where is jan?” asked hilda.

“jan has gone to town with rink and the cart,” said mother.

“where is katrina?”

“katrina has gone over to the windmill to get water,” said mother.

“she will be home soon.

“come in, hilda.”

so hilda went in and sat down in jan’s little red chair. “katrina said she would come and play with me. i will wait for her,” said hilda.

“where are you going to play?” asked mother.

“we are going to play by the canal,” said hilda, “and karl says he will take us to ride in the boat.”

“there is katrina now,” said mother. “see! she has two pails of water. how careful she is! she does not spill a drop!”

katrina was very glad to see hilda. she set her pails of water on the broad shelf in the kitchen.

“here is the fresh water, mother,” she cried;[40] “now you can have a nice cool drink.”

then she and hilda ran away to play with karl and kassie down by the canal.