"How pale you are," said Mademoiselle; "Are you cold?"
"Yes, a little, Mademoiselle," I said, quite ashamed for my discomfort to be discovered.
"Poor little girl," she said. Taking my two hands in her two hot ones that were burning with fever, "You had better not stay here any longer as you are not accustomed to the cold. Our neighbor made a little fire in the grate this morning to cook the breakfast with, but it"s gone out."
Was it this little touch of tenderness on the part of Mademoiselle, or remorse for all the wicked feelings I had so long held against my teacher?
Anyway, a flood of tears came as I kneeled beside the bed and hid my face on the white cover. "Oh, Mademoiselle ... forgive me," I murmured between by sobs.
All my pride had broken and I saw myself for what I was, guilty, unjust and cruel toward this young woman whom I had accused of living solely for herself. I felt a hand pa.s.sing slowly over my head.
"I forgive you with all my heart, poor child," and the invalid"s voice was both sincere and kindly, and I rose and embraced her with a repentant heart, and with a hearty kiss I buried our old war then and there, and in that cold room I felt the warmth of the beginning of a new life for me although at that time I could not have a.n.a.lyzed it. Suddenly we heard a knock on the door.
"Ah, that will be Madame Bertin," said Gabriel, as he hitched himself to the door and opened it, revealing a gray-haired woman who came in on tiptoe.
"Ah, you have visitors, Mademoiselle," as she stopped a moment near the door.
"Only two of my pupils who have come to see me. Come in, come in, it"s all right," insisted our teacher.
"Ah," said the new arrival with great interest, "so you are my Victoria"s schoolmates. How proud you ought to be to have such a wonderful teacher!"
Here she advanced to the bed. "Well, I declare," she said, "you have no more drinking water!" She shook a flask near the bedside, saying, "I will go and fill it and bring back a little something to make a fire with so as to get your tea ready. I"m sure Gabriel must be hungry by this time," and without waiting for a reply the good woman went rapidly down the four flights of stairs. Paula then gave Mademoiselle the small package Teresa had sent, as well as the little bag of oranges.
"See, Gabriel!" said Mademoiselle as she opened the packages with delight, "Oranges!--and chocolate! What a treat! You are very good to remember me in such a lovely way. Please thank your Teresa too."
"She said she was coming to see you," said Paula.
At this the poor young woman looked disturbed. "I"m afraid she"ll find things in a very bad state here," and she colored slightly.
But as we started to go away Paula a.s.sured her that Teresa wouldn"t mind a bit.
"Just a moment," said the invalid; "Would you mind reading me a chapter out of this book? I have not been able to read it today, as my head ached too badly. It"s a book that I love very much."
"The Bible!" cried Paula, "Oh, I didn"t know that you read it too."
The young lady shook her head sadly, "I used to read it when I was a child, Paula. It was and is the beloved Book of my mother, but for many, many years I never opened it. When your uncle came to inscribe you as a pupil, he told me how much you loved your father"s Bible, and that started me thinking of my own, hidden in the bottom of my trunk, and so I began to read many chapters that I remember having read with my mother, and now I believe that Gabriel would never tire if I read it to him all day."
"Tell her to read the story of Jesus healing the sick people," came the eager voice of Gabriel.
Mademoiselle smiled, "Gabriel is right. When people are sick they love to hear of the greatest doctor of all. Read about the ten lepers, Paula."
At this point the old lady returned, and she too stood and listened as Paula began to read the wonderful story.
"And as Jesus came to Jerusalem, He went through Galilee, and entering into a village, behold, ten lepers stood afar off, and cried, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us, and He said to them, Go show yourselves to the priest.
And as they went their way, they were healed, and one of them seeing that he was healed, returned and glorified G.o.d in a loud voice, and cast himself at the feet of Jesus, giving thanks to Him, and behold, he was a Samaritan.
Then said Jesus, Were there not ten healed? Where are the nine? Only this foreigner has returned to give glory to G.o.d. And He said to him, Rise, therefore; thy faith hath made thee whole" (Luke 17:11-19). Here Paula stopped, not knowing whether to go on to the end of the chapter.
Mlle. Virtud then dosed her eyes, but one could see she was not sleeping.
Paula waited in silence, and so did the old lady as she stood there with her rough, toil-worn hands clasped beneath her ap.r.o.n.
"Read some more," said Gabriel, "No," said Mlle. Virtud. "It"s time the children returned, for they must reach home before dark." She drew us to her, giving us both a long embrace. "May G.o.d bless you both, by dear young friends! Come back soon to see me." Then Victoria"s mother embraced us also, saying at the same time, "I have a poor blind daughter. I would be very grateful if you would stop in to see her the next time and read her the same story you have just read to Mademoiselle."
"I don"t know how to read," she continued; "I have such a poor stupid head, and Victoria doesn"t seem to have learned to read very well. She can show you where we live--and now, goodbye until the next time."
On our return Teresa prepared supper. She was more hurried than usual because she had to get the week"s wash ready for the next day; but she listened with great interest, nevertheless, to the story of our afternoon"s visit. "I"m going to see her tomorrow, poor child," she said.
That night Teresa came to tuck us in and kiss us goodnight which was her habit, as she said, to try to take partly the place of our poor dear mother. I whispered in her ear, "Teresa, I"ve come to love Mademoiselle Virtud."
"Good! good!" exclaimed the old servant; "that"s something new indeed! And why has the wind so suddenly changed in her direction?"
"It"s because I know her now!" I said.
Teresa seated herself on my bed, and in spite of the cold she talked to me a long time, telling me that my heart"s coldness and my selfishness had caused her much grief. I could see how happy I had made her to have confessed my faults and thus show the beginning of a great change. She told me how my mother died with a prayer on her lips for me. Then die spoke of Paula who thought of nothing except making other people happy. "Wouldn"t you like to be like Paula?" Teresa questioned me. "Of course, dear Teresa,"
I said, "but that"s impossible, I"m too bad for that."
"Who it is, Lisita, that makes Paula so good?" and Teresa"s voice took on a new and most tender note.
"It"s the Lord Jesus!" I answered in a low whisper.
"That"s well answered, Lisita! And the same Lord Jesus would do the like for you. Let me ask you something. Do you not find me changed--since-- since--I began to pray to Him?"
"Yes, Teresa."
"In what way have you noticed the change?"
"Well, for one thing--wash-day doesn"t make you irritable, as it used to do," I said.
"That"s something, now isn"t it? Oh, when one has the peace of G.o.d in the heart, anger doesn"t have a chance to get inside as it used to do."
I looked at her furtively. By the lamplight I could see in those dark blue eyes such a new, such a tender, confident look, that in spite of the wrinkled cheeks and her white hair I saw a startling likeness to Paula herself. I couldn"t explain it at the time, but later I understood--Teresa and Paula were just part of the family of G.o.d and it was His likeness of Jesus, His dear Son, I had seen in both of them.
PART TWO
CHAPTER ONE
SOME YEARS LATER
The years pa.s.sed swiftly without bringing any great changes in our quiet life. Our grandparents had aged a bit, and Teresa was not quite as active as formerly, while a few wrinkles had gathered on our father"s forehead; but all this had come so slowly that the change was hardly noticed.
Rosa, who was now eighteen years old, was studying in the city. She was still the same--studious, faithful and sincere in all that she did. Her quiet reserved manner caused some people to call her proud, but those who knew her better loved her, and knew she could be depended on in time of trouble.
Catalina still suffered somewhat, but now was able to walk around a bit without crutches, and in spite of her delicate health and poor twisted body she had come bravely to take her true place among us as our "big sister,"
so loving and solicitous for everybody"s welfare that she came to be known in the neighborhood as "The little mother."
Paula was now fourteen years of age. In the house, at school, in the village, everywhere, everybody loved her, and I can say with all honesty that never a shadow of envy ever disturbed the tender friendship which had united us to her from the beginning. One could not possibly be jealous of Paula. All that she possessed was ours. Our joys were hers. Our sorrows were her sorrows. She had grown in body and mind, and yet had kept the same characteristics. Always bright and happy and full of fun, she had the same simple, humble ways as when at ten years of age she had come among us. Her special summer delight was to run through the fields, always returning to the house with a big bunch of wild flowers for Catalina. In one thing only she always seemed to fail. Teresa had a fearful task in teaching her to sew and to knit.
"What are you going to do in the future if you don"t know how to do these things?"