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The little red-roofed farmhouse was very old, its chimney crooked and even the sles A bird's nest, wispy with straas half hidden in the corner where the roof narled tree was still speckled with a few apples now long past ripe

Maone inside, but Anneh the late wildflowers Froray kitten appeared and ran beside the to lick its paws, and then darting off again It pretended to ignore the girls, but looked back often to be certain that they were still there, apparently pleased to have playray water licked there at darass flattened by the wind and bordered by smooth heavy stones

"I have never been this close to the sea," Ellen said

"Of course you have You've been to the harbor in Copenhagen a hed "I mean the real sea, the way it is here Open like this--a whole world of water"

Annemarie shook her head in amazement To live in Denmark, a country surrounded by water, and never to have stood at its edge?

"Your parents are really city people, aren't they?"

Ellen nodded "My"She says it is too big for her And too cold!"

The girls sat on a rock and took off their shoes and socks They tiptoed across the damp stones and let the water touch their feet It was cold They giggled and stepped back

Annemarie leaned down and picked up a brown leaf that floated back and forth with the movement of the water

"Look," she said "This leaf may have come from a tree in Sweden It could have blown from a tree into the sea, and floated all the way across See over there?" she said, pointing "See the land? Way across there? That's Sweden"

Ellen cupped one hand over her eyes and looked across the water at the misty shoreline that was another country "It's not so very far," she said

"Maybe," Anneirls just our age, looking across and saying, 'That's Denht see Swedish children standing there and looking back But it was too far They saw only the hazy strip of land and two sray ruffles of separating water

"I wonder if one of those is your Uncle Henrik's boat," Ellen said

"Maybe I can't tell They're too far away Uncle Henrik's boat is na," she told Ellen, "for Maht here? Does he tie it up so that it won't float away?"

Anne dock, and all the fishing boats go and come from there That's where they unload their fish You should sht they are all there, anchored in the harbor"

"Anneirls looked around, and saw her waving to the toward the house The kitten, who had settled comfortably on the stony shore, rose immediately and followed them

"I took Ellen down to show her the sea," Annemarie explained when they reached the place where Mama waited "She'd never been that close before! We started to wade, but it was too cold I e had come in summer so we could swim"

"It's cold even then," Mama said She looked around "You didn't see anyone, did you? You didn't talk to anyone?"

Annemarie shook her head "Just the kitten" Ellen had picked it up, and it lay purring in her arms as she stroked its small head and talked to it softly

"I meant to warn you You must stay away from people while we are here"

"But there's no one around here," Annemarie reminded her

"Even so If you see anyone at all--even someone you know, one of Henrik's friends--it is better if you coerous--to explain who Ellen is"

Ellen looked up and bit her lip "There aren't soldiers here, too?" she asked

Mahed "I'm afraid there are soldiers everywhere And especially now This is a bad time