When Jonitza awoke he found black coffee and delicious white twists awaiting him. He dressed quickly that he might be in time for the hearty breakfast that follows. It was a holiday, and so later he had a ride behind four horses abreast with his father, first along the sluggish Dimbovitza River on which Bukurest is situated, then into the hills to an old three-towered Cathedral, one of the very few antiquities to be seen in Bukurest. From here the city looked very attractive with its metal plated steeples and cupolas, its many squares and tree-lined avenues.

Then the horses carried them still further away to a neighboring hamlet with its pretty rustic vine-embowered houses, their dark roofs forming verandas on which clay benches invited one to rest. Peasant women drawing water from wells by the wayside greeted them; children tending geese and pigs smiled at them, and a man building a wattled fence invited them into his little country house all blue and white.

When they reached home and had had luncheon, Jonitza found that the whole family but himself had been invited to some entertainment and that he was to be left with Maritza and the servants.

He had begun to yawn and to wonder how he would spend the day, when Maritza solved the problem for him.

"Your mother said that I might take you to see the Hora danced," she announced. The Hora is the Roumanian national dance.

"Oh, good!" cried Jonitza, throwing a book that he was holding up to the ceiling and catching it again.

Soon after, Maritza's brother came for his sister. He was a rather tall, dark-eyed man and dressed in spotless white linen trousers with a ruffle around the ankles and deep pointed pockets in front, embroidered in red. To be sure to be on time they started at once, Maritza laughingly repeating that they "must dance on Sunday to keep the creak out of their bones on Monday."

A half hour's walk brought them to a modest section of Bukurest, where, in a square opposite a tavern, a host of peasant men and women in their gayest costumes, were already gathered. Knowing how eager Maritza was to dance, Jonitza urged her to leave him on the lawn. "I shall be all right here under the trees," he said.

When she consented, he threw himself down to watch. Soon gypsy musicians seated themselves on a platform at one edge of the square and began to play. At once men and maidens clasped hands and began a swaying motion to words improvised by certain of the youths who were in charge of the dance for the day.

Others joined; the ring grew gigantic and then suddenly broke into two, each part with its set of leaders, while a shout of pleasurable excitement rent the air.

Jonitza enjoyed it all for quite a while and then began to yawn. As he turned to see if he could find anything else of interest his glance fell on a boy seated some distance away under a huge lime-tree. Something about this boy made Jonitza sit upright. Suddenly he leaped to his feet, ran wildly forward, and put his hands over the other boy's eyes.

"Guess," he said in a muffled voice.

In answer the other boy jumped up, over-throwing Jonitza as he did so. It was Nicolaia.

For a moment both boys showed considerable emotion. "When did you come? Are you going to stay in Bukurest? Where do you live?" were some of the questions that Jonitza hurled at his companion.

Nicolaia did his best to answer. "I came yesterday," he said, "to begin my apprenticeship with my uncle. Since to-day is Friday and a holiday, Uncle says that I am not to begin work till Monday. He wants me to see a little of the city first."

"Hurrah!" shouted Jonitza, throwing up his cap. "Where are you going to-morrow?"

"In the morning I'm going to go to market with Auntie, so as to know how to buy. I'm to live with them and shall have to do all sorts of odd jobs at times."

Jonitza grew thoughtful. "I'll try to see you there," he said after a pause. "Mother won't let me go alone anywhere here. I'm such a lovely child"—here he grinned—"she thinks some one might steal me. But perhaps I can go with one of the house servants or with Maritza."

"I'll look for you," said Nicolaia solemnly. Then he added: "I was so tired of watching the old dance that I was amusing myself playing Arshitza." Here he stooped to pick up a sheep bone shaped like the figure eight, and some bits of lead.

"What fun we used to have playing that at your house," said Jonitza with something like a sigh. "Let's play it now." Nicolaia nodded and they settled down for a quiet time by themselves, each trying in turn to snap as many of the lead pieces as possible into the rings.

Later they sharpened a few sticks that they found and played another game called Tzurka, not unlike our game of Cat. Then they lay down side by side on the grass and talked.

All this time the music, singing, and dancing went on, as if none of those taking part in it knew what it was to get tired. It was only with the setting of the sun that it came to a stop. Neither of the boys would have known it, however, so absorbed were they in a deep discussion, had not Maritza found them. As she shook hands with Nicolaia and looked at Jonitza's animated face she roguishly asked, "Did you like the dance?"

"Why—yes—" responded Jonitza quite unconscious of the twinkle in her eyes. "It was splendid, wasn't it, Nicolaia? I wish it could have lasted longer!"