It appeared to me that my father had already repented. He took his hat without a word and went out, and did not return until the evening.
"What a shame that Paula isn"t a boy," said Louis, as soon as our father had disappeared.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because she is so brave. Did you notice she stopped crying as soon as father hit her? In her place, you would have been crying yet."
"And you? How about yourself?"
"Oh, boys wouldn"t cry for a little thing like that. I"m surprised, though, that father hit her."
"I"m surprised too," said Rosa, "but, of course, she must learn to obey."
"I wonder what can be in this Bible of hers to make her love it so,"
continued Louis. "Any way, what is a Bible? Is it a kind of a prayer-book?"
"No," I said, proud that I knew so much, "it"s not a prayer-book. At least I have seen Paula pray in the morning and at night. She kneels and closes her eyes and prays, and does not use the Book at all during the time that she prays. She tells me that in the Book she learns how to be good and to serve G.o.d. Her father used to read it to her every day, and when he died she promised him to continue to read it."
"Poor Paula!" sighed Rosa. "There is something mighty fine about her. I wonder how all this is going to come out."
"I think she"ll die," I said, trying hard to keep back the tears.
"Nonsense," said Louis, "she"ll not die! Not she! Don"t worry about that.
In a few days she"ll forget all about it. But I can"t help feeling very sorry to see her so unhappy. Well, good-bye, Rosa. Don"t cry anymore, Lisita. I"m going into the kitchen to see what"s happened to poor Paula."
I followed him out and we found the kitchen empty. I went to our room and found Teresa seated on my bed with Paula on her lap. I heard Teresa say, "My treasure, don"t cry any more! Don"t afflict poor Teresa who loves you so, and who loved your mother before you. Now, come, come, my angel, that will do. You will make yourself sick. See, here comes Lisita also to comfort you."
But Paula continued crying, inconsolable, as she hid her face on the ample shoulder of our old servant I came quite near her and stroked her hair, but I could not utter a word.
"Papa! papa," she called, time after time.
"Your father"s in heaven," answered Teresa, taking her tenderly in her arms. "What would he think if he saw his little girl in such a state?"
"Oh, I only wish father had taken me with him! If I could only see him now!
You see, I promised him to read my Bible and now I cannot, for my uncle has carried away the only one I had--that wonderful Book that told me of G.o.d, and where my father had marked so many beautiful pa.s.sages! Oh, papa, papa, do come! Your daughter needs you now!"
Teresa, finally seeing that it was useless to try to comfort her, limited herself to drying the floods of tears that still continued to flow. But finally, thoroughly exhausted, Paula at last became calm and listened tranquilly to Teresa"s long story which we already knew so well, regarding the death of our mother and Catalina"s terrible fall. And following this, she showed her that on account of these great misfortunes, instead of leading our father to seek the Lord, it seemed on the contrary to have hardened his heart. Thus he had become rebellious, and had made it an established rule in our home that not a word should be uttered relative to the Supreme Being. Then she added, "But don"t you believe that he does not care for you! If you could know how many times he has said that you should lack nothing and should be treated as one of his own daughters."
"That is certainly true," said Rosa, who had entered during Teresa"s narrative. "Father appears severe, and this morning, of course, he became very angry, but he is very good-hearted after all."
"I did not know, I did not know," said Paula, as she bowed her head; "how my poor uncle must have suffered!"
"Besides," continued Teresa, "who can tell but what your uncle will begin to read your little--what is it you call it?--the Bible?"
"Do you think so? Oh, Teresa! Do you think he will read it himself?"
"Certainly I do, and why not? And when he has read it and found that it is a good book, I"m sure he will return it to you. So now, just calm yourself and don"t worry any more."
"But," questioned Paula, "do you mean to tell me that my uncle hasn"t got a Bible himself?"
"Yes, he had one once, but I imagine that he must have lost it, for it"s many years since I have seen the one that he had."
"Oh," exclaimed Paula, "what a wonderful thing if my uncle should read my Bible. For I am sure that he will come to believe in G.o.d as my father did, and then he will let me have my precious Book back again. My father, too, pa.s.sed through great affliction. My mother also died, and then my two sisters, all three in the same year. Father told me that by thus pa.s.sing through the fire he had learned not to fix his eyes on the things of this world, but to find his happiness in G.o.d. I don"t know how to explain it very well, of course; but I did understand it fairly well when my father told me and showed me some of the precious pa.s.sages in the Book that helped me to understand."
"I think I also understand," murmured Teresa, drying her own eyes on the back of her sleeve, as she turned to Rosa. "Rosa, you claim to be very wise. Tell me, where can one buy a Bible?" Rosa smiled, and said, "I"m not very sure, but I think in one of the book-shops one could find a Bible. I could find out in school tomorrow. I know one of my schoolmates has one."
"Good," exclaimed Teresa, "you must find out tomorrow morning. I"ve got an idea, Paula, a wonderful idea, so dry your tears. I must go tomorrow afternoon to the city, and if Rosa can find out tomorrow morning where a Bible can be found, we shall all four of us go and buy a new Bible there, and you can read it in your room and your uncle will never know."
"Oh, Teresa," cried Paula in a burst of grat.i.tude, "what a good woman you are!"
"That"s something I"ve never yet found out," said the old servant with a dry smile.
Then suddenly we all saw that something had begun to trouble Paula. "What"s the matter now?" said Rosa. "Are you not content to get a new Bible?"
"Oh, yes," said Paula, "but under such circ.u.mstances that would deceive my uncle."
It was here that Teresa broke in. "No, no," she said, "you don"t understand. I"m going to buy this Bible with my own money, and I can do as I please. If I care to buy a Bible, it"s no one else"s business."
But there was trouble in Paula"s eyes as she said, "I would certainly like to have a Bible, but uncle has forbidden me to read it. I can see from what you say that it would be easy for you to buy another and read it yourselves, but my uncle has prohibited me and that settles it. I simply can"t be a hypocrite and deceive him. Dear Teresa, I do certainly thank you from the bottom of my heart, but, you see, you had forgotten what uncle said. Now, listen, the Lord Jesus is going to help me! There are many beautiful pa.s.sages of the Bible that I know by heart, and there are plenty of the Bible stories that I"ll never forget. All these I will keep in my memory, and then besides I shall pray every day for my uncle, that he"ll soon return my precious Bible to me, and give me permission to read it. I know the Lord will hear me, if I obey Him and pray with faith. Dear Teresa, I hope you"re not going to be provoked with me."
"And why should I be, my precious treasure?"
"Well, just because I didn"t want you to buy me a Bible."
"No, no, dear, no; you certainly are right, and a whole lot better than we are." And we, together with our old servant, could not help admiring the honesty of our st.u.r.dy country cousin.
"Teresa!" It was Paula who broke the silence that followed the above discussion.
"What now, Paula?"
"Will you pray for me?"
"I," said the astonished Teresa.
"Yes, please, Teresa dear."
"My poor little Paula, I never pray for myself, so how could I pray for you?"
Poor Paula seemed at a loss. "Well, you see," she said, hesitatingly in a trembling voice, "I"m afraid to do it. You see, I don"t dare to forget G.o.d."
And so our good Teresa, in order to satisfy the poor child, promised to pray for her that very night.
"No," insisted Paula, "let"s pray now."
Our poor servant looked around her in dismay.
"I--! I pray here! In front of you and Lisita and Rosa! Never--! Besides, I wouldn"t know what to say."