"GOODBYE"
That evening at dinner the two girls told all about their adventures.
"How did you finally get back to Christiansborg, Greta?" asked her aunt.
"I asked a policeman to show me the way, and he was kind enough to go
all the way back there with me. I don't think I could ever have found it
by myself."
"Oh, Greta, I almost forgot," said her aunt. "Here is a letter that came
for you today."
It was a letter from Hans, and Greta opened it eagerly.
_"Dear Greta:_
_I have some very good news for you. Father has decided that you
may keep Chouse after all. He found that it was the rabbits, and
not Chouse, who had been killing the chickens. Every time we saw
Chouse running after chickens he was really trying to get the
rabbits._
_We all miss you, Greta, and I think the kittens miss you as much
as we do. They are getting so fat that you won't know them unless
you come home pretty soon. Give Chouse three pats for me._
_Your loving brother,
Hans."_
Greta showed the letter to Anna, saying, "I think it's time for me to go
home, Anna. The kittens need me, and you can see that Chouse is very
homesick."
"I'm afraid that Chouse isn't the only one who is homesick," teased
Tante Elsie. "But we do understand, Greta. We want you to stay as long
as you can, but if you should be at home with your pets, then you do
what you think is best."
[Illustration: GRETA AND ANNA]
"Thank you, Tante Elsie. You have all been so wonderful to me and you
have given me such a very good time. I shall never forget it."
Greta decided that she would go home the next day, so her uncle sent a
telegram to her father. Anna helped her to pack, while Chouse stood by
and watched.
"Of course it is really Chouse who is homesick, Anna," insisted Greta.
"I could stay away all summer."
"Certainly you could," agreed Anna. "But I expect the kittens really do
need you to look after them."
When Anna and Tante Elsie put Greta on the train the next day she was
very brave. She had never before been on the train by herself, but she
was not going to let anyone know that she was just a wee bit frightened.
After all, Chouse was with her, and this time he would not get away from
her. He seemed just as happy as she was to be going back home.
Greta kissed Anna and Tante Elsie goodbye. "This has been such a lovely
summer," she said. "I hope Anna can come to visit me again next
summer."
"And we want you to come back to Copenhagen next year," said Anna.
Greta waved to them until she could no longer see their handkerchiefs
waving to her in answer. Then she leaned back in her seat, with Chouse
on her lap.
"Chouse, this _has_ been the grandest summer we have ever had," said
Greta, giving her pet a loving hug. Then she took a withered rosebud
from her purse and looked at it dreamily. "And I know that I am the
happiest girl in all Denmark."
Transcriber's Note
Punctuation and formatting markup have been normalized.
"_" surrounding text represents italics.
Apparent printer's errors have been retained, unless stated below.
Page 136, "It's" changed to "Its". (Its real name is Frederick's Church,
because it was built by King Frederick the Fifth.)
End of Project Gutenberg's Little Greta of Denmark, by Bernadine Bailey