d I thought that death was the best image of mercy--then goodness
came to me living, and I felt trust in the living. And--it is
strange--but I began to hope that she was living too. And now I with
you--here--this morning, peace and hope have come into me like a flood.
I want nothing; I can wait; because I hope and believe and am
grateful--oh, so grateful! You have not thought evil of me--you have
not despised me."

Mirah spoke with low-toned fervor, and sat as still as a picture all
the while.

"Many others would have felt as we do, my dear," said Mrs. Meyrick,
feeling a mist come over her eyes as she looked at her work.

"But I did not meet them--they did not come to me."

"How was it that you were taken from your mother?"

"Ah, I am a long while coming to that. It is dreadful to speak of, yet
I must tell you--I must tell you everything. My father--it was he that
took me away. I thought we were only going on a little journey; and I
was pleased. There was a box with all my little things in. But we went
on board a ship, and got farther and farther away from the land. Then I
was ill; and I thought it would never end--it was the first misery, and
it seemed endless. But at last we landed. I knew nothing then, and
believed what my father said. He comforted me, and told me I should go
back to my mother. But it was America we had reached, and it was long
years before we came back to Europe. At first I often asked my father
when we were going back; and I tried to learn writing fast, because I
wanted to write to my mother; but one day when he found me trying to
write a letter, he took me on his knee and told me that my mother and
brother were dead; that was why we did not go back. I remember my
brother a little; he carried me once; but he was not always at home. I
believed my father when he said that they were dead. I saw them under
the earth when he said they were there, with their eyes forever closed.
I never thought of its not being true; and I used to cry every night in
my bed for a long while. Then when she came so often to me, in my
sleep, I thought she must be living about me though I could not always
see her, and that comforted me. I was never afraid in the dark, because
of that; and very often in the day I used to shut my eyes and bury my
face and try to see her and to hear her singing. I came to do that at
last without shutting my eyes."

Mirah paused with a sweet content in her face, as if she were having
her h