Erica took the little thing on her knee, and began to read the paper. It was curiously spelled. Before very long she came to the sentence, "J"ai trop mange."
"Why, Ninette," exclaimed Erica, "you hardly eat enough to feed a sparrow; it is nonsense to put that."
"Ah, but it was a fast day," signed Ninette. "And I felt hungry, and did really eat more than I need have."
Erica felt half angry and contemptuous, half amused, and could only hope that the priest would see the pale, thin face of the little penitent, and realize the ludicrousness of the confession.
Another time all the girls had been to some special service; on their return, she asked what it had been about.
"Oh," remarked a bright-faced girl, "it was about the seven joys--or the seven sorrows--of Mary."
"Do you mean to say you don"t know whether it was very solemn or very joyful?" asked Erica, astonished and amused.
"I am really not sure," said the girl, with the most placid good-tempered indifference.
On the whole, it was scarcely to be wondered at that Erica was not favorably impressed with Roman Catholicism.
She was a great favorite with all the girls; but, though she was very patient and persevering, she did not succeed in making any of them fluent English speakers, and learned their language far better than they learned hers. Her three special friends were not among the pupils, but among the teachers. Dear old Mme. Lemercier, with her good-humored black eyes, her kind, demonstrative ways, and her delightful stories about the time of the war and the siege, was a friend worth having. So was her husband, M. Lemercier the journalist. He was a little dried-up man, with a fierce black mustache; he was sarcastic and witty, and he would talk politics by the hour together to any one who would listen to him, especially if they would now and then ask a pertinent and intelligent question which gave him scope for an oration.
Erica made a delightful listener, for she was always anxious to learn and to understand, and before long she was quite AU FAIT, and understood a great deal about that exceedingly complicated thing, the French political system. M. Lemercier was a fiery, earnest little man, with very strong convictions; he had been exiled as a communist but had now returned, and was a very vigorous and impa.s.sioned writer in one of the advanced Republican journals. He and his wife became very fond of Erica, Mme. Lemercier loving her for her brightness and readiness to help, and monsieur for her beauty and her quickness of perception. It was surprising and gratifying to meet with a girl who, without being a femme savante, was yet capable of understanding the difference between the Extreme Left and the Left Center, and who took a real interest in what was pa.s.sing in the world.
But Erica"s greatest friend was a certain Fraulein Sonnenthal, the German governess. She was a kind-eyed Hanoverian, homely and by no means brilliantly clever, but there was something in her unselfishness and in her una.s.suming humility that won Erica"s heart. She never would hear a word against the fraulein.
"Why do you care so much for Fraulein Sonnenthal?" she was often asked.
"She seems uninteresting and dull to us."
"I love her because she is so good," was Erica"s invariable reply.
She and the fraulein shared a bedroom, and many were the arguments they had together. The effect of being separated from her own people was, very naturally, to make Erica a more devoted secularist. She was exceedingly enthusiastic for what she considered the truth and not unfrequently grieved and shocked the Lutheran fraulein by the vehemence of her statements. Very often they would argue far on into the night; they never quarreled, however hot the dispute, but the fraulein often had a sore time of it, for, naturally, Luke Raeburn"s daughter was well up in all the debatable points, and she had, moreover, a good deal of her father"s rapidity of thought and gift of speech. She was always generous, however, and the fraulein had in some respects the advantage of her, for they spoke in German.
One scene in that little bedroom Erica never forgot. They had gone to bed one Easter-eve, and had somehow fallen into a long and stormy argument about the resurrection and the doctrine of immortality. Erica, perhaps because she was conscious of the "weakness" she had confessed to Brian Osmond, argued very warmly on the other side; the poor little fraulein was grieved beyond measure, and defended her faith gallantly, though, as she feared, very ineffectually. Her arguments seemed altogether extinguished by Erica"s remorseless logic; she was not nearly so clever, and her very earnestness seemed to trip her up and make all her sentences broken and incomplete. They discussed the subject till Erica was hoa.r.s.e, and at last from very weariness she fell asleep while the Lutheran was giving her a long quotation from St. Paul.
She slept for two or three hours; when she woke, the room was flooded with silvery moonlight, the wooden cross which hung over the German"s bed stood out black and distinct, but the bed was empty. Erica looked round the room uneasily, and saw a sight which she never forgot. The fraulein was kneeling beside the window, and even the cold moonlight could not chill or hide the wonderful brightness of her face. She was a plain, ordinary little woman, but her face was absolutely transformed; there was something so beautiful and yet so unusual in her expression that Erica could not speak or move, but lay watching her almost breathlessly. The spiritual world about which they had been speaking must be very real indeed to Thekla Sonnenthal! Was it possible that this was the work of delusion? While she mused, her friend rose, came straight to her bedside, and bent over her with a look of such love and tenderness that Erica, though not generally demonstrative, could not resist throwing her arms round her neck.
"Dear Sunnyvale! You look just like your name!" she exclaimed, "all brightness and humility! What have you been doing to grow so like Murillo"s Madonna?"
"I thought you were asleep," said the fraulein. "Good night, Herzolattchen, or rather good morning, for the Easter day has begun."
Perhaps Erica liked her all the better for saying nothing more definite, but in the ordinary sense of the word she did not have a good night, for long after Thekla Sonnenthal was asleep, and dreaming of her German home, Luke Raeburn"s daughter lay awake, thinking of the faith which to some was such an intense reality. Had there been anything excited or unreal about her companion"s manner, she would not have thought twice about it; but her tranquillity and sweetness seemed to her very remarkable. Moreover, Fraulein Sonnenthal was strangely devoid of imagination; she was a matter-of-fact little person, not at all a likely subject for visions and delusions. Erica was perplexed. Once more there came to her that uncomfortable question: "Supposing Christianity were true?"
The moonlight paled and the Easter morn broke, and still she tossed to and fro, haunted by doubts which would not let her sleep. But by and by she returned to the one thing which was absolutely certain, namely, that her German friend was lovable and to be loved, whatever her creed.
And, since Erica"s love was of the practical order, it prompted her to get up early, dress noiselessly, and steal out of the room without waking her companion; then, with all the church bells ringing and the devout citizens hurrying to ma.s.s, she ran to the nearest flower stall, spent one of her very few half-francs on the loveliest white rose to be had, and carried it back as an Easter offering to the fraulein.
It was fortunate in every way that Erica had the little German lady for her friend, for she would often have fared badly without some one to nurse and befriend her.
She was very delicate, and worked far too hard; for, besides all her work in the school, she was preparing for an English examination which she had set her heart on trying as soon as she went home. Had it not been for Fraulein Sonnenthal, she would more than once have thoroughly overworked herself; and indeed as it was, the strain of that two years told severely on her strength.
But the time wore on rapidly, as very fully occupied time always does, and Erica"s list of days grew shorter and shorter, and the letters from her mother were more and more full of plans for the life they would lead when she came home. The two years would actually end in January; Erica was, however, to stay in Paris till the following Easter, partly to oblige Mme. Lemercier, partly because by that time her father hoped to be in a great measure free from his embarra.s.sments, able once more to make a home for her.
CHAPTER VII. What the New Year Brought
A voice grows with the growing years; Earth, hushing down her bitter cry, Looks upward from her graves, and hears, "The Resurrection and the Life am I."
O love Divine,--whose constant beam Shines on the eyes that will not see, And waits to bless us, while we dream Thou leavest us because we turn from Thee!
Nor bounds, nor clime, nor creed Thou know"st, Wide as our need Thy favors fall; The white wings of the Holy Ghost Stoop, seen or unseen, o"er the heads of all. Whittier
It was the eve of the new year, and great excitement prevailed in the Lemerciers" house. Many of the girls whose homes were at a distance had remained at school for the short winter holiday, and on this particular afternoon a number of them were cl.u.s.tered round the stove talking about the festivities of the morrow and the presents they were likely to have.
Erica, who was now a tall and very pretty girl of eighteen, was sitting on the hearth rug with Ninette on her lap; she was in very high spirits, and kept the little group in perpetual laughter, so much so indeed that Fraulein Sonnenthal had more than once been obliged to interfere, and do her best to quiet them.
"How wild thou art, dear Erica?" she exclaimed. "What is it?"
"I am happy, that is all," said Erica. "You would be happy if the year of freedom were just dawning for you. Three months more and I shall be home."
She was like a child in her exultant happiness, far more child-like, indeed, than the grave little Ninette whom she was nursing.
"Thou art not dignified enough for a teacher," said the fraulein, laughingly.
"She is no teacher," cried the girls. "It is holiday time and she need not talk that frightful English."
Erica made a laughing defense of her native tongue, and such a babel ensued that the fraulein had to interfere again.
"Liebe Erica! Thou art beside thyself! What has come to thee?"
"Only joy, dear Thekla, at the thought of the beautiful new year which is coming," cried Erica. "Father would say I was "fey," and should pay for all this fun with a bad headache or some misfortune. Come, give me the French "David Copperfield," and let me read you how "Barkis Veut Bien," and "Mrs. Gummidge a Pense de l"Ancien.""
The reading was more exquisitely ludicrous to Erica herself than to her hearers. Still the wit of Charles d.i.c.kens, even when translated, called forth peals of laughter from the French girls, too. It was the brightest, happiest little group imaginable; perhaps it was scarcely wonderful that old Mme. Lemercier, when she came to break it up, should find her eyes dim with tears.
"My dear Erica--" she said, and broke off abruptly.
Erica looked up with laughing eyes.
"Don"t scold, dear madame," she said, coaxingly. "We have been very noisy; but it is New year"s eve, and we are so happy."
"Dear child, it is not that," said madame. "I want to speak to you for a minute; come with me, cherie."
Still Erica noticed nothing; did not detect the tone of pity, did not wonder at the terms of endearment which were generally reserved for more private use. She followed madame into the hall, still chattering gayly.
"The "David Copperfield" is for monsieur"s present tomorrow," she said, laughingly. "I knew he was too lazy to read it in English, so I got him a translation."
"My dear," said madame, taking her hand, "try to be quiet a moment. I--I have something to tell you. My poor little one, monsieur your father is arrived--"
"Father! Father here!" exclaimed Erica, in a transport of delight.
"Where is he, where? Oh, madame, why didn"t you tell me sooner?"