"Because--" said Gerda slowly, and then stopped.

"Because what?" Lieutenant Ekman asked again.

"Because I wondered if we could stop at the lighthouse on our way home
and ask Karen Klasson to go to Stockholm and live with us;" and Gerda
held her breath and waited for her father to speak.

"Perhaps she would not like to leave her father and mother for the sake
of living with us," he said at last.

"I think she would, if it would make her back well," persisted Gerda.

Herr Ekman laughed. "If living with us would cure people's backs, we
might have all the lame children in Sweden to care for," he said.

"But I want only Karen," said Gerda; "and I thought it would be good for
her to take the Swedish medical gymnastics at the Institute in Stockholm,
where so many people are cured every year."

Lieutenant Ekman looked thoughtfully at his daughter. "That is a good
idea and shows a loving heart," he said. "But are you willing to give up
any of your pleasures in order to make it possible?"

Gerda looked at him in surprise, and he continued, "I am not a rich man.
If we should take Karen into our family and send her to the gymnasium, it
would cost a good many kronor, and your mother and I would have to make
some sacrifices. Are you willing to make some, too?"