om making
them impatient her petulances charmed them; and they gratified all her
wishes, making each the ground of some little training.

The child grew up surrounded by old men, who smiled at her and made
themselves mothers for her sake, all three equally attentive and
provident. Thanks to this wise education, Ursula's soul developed in
a sphere that suited it. This rare plant found its special soil; it
breathed the elements of its true life and assimilated the sun rays that
belonged to it.

"In what faith do you intend to bring up the little one?" asked the abbe
of the doctor, when Ursula was six years old.

"In yours," answered Minoret.

An atheist after the manner of Monsieur Wolmar in the "Nouvelle Heloise"
he did not claim the right to deprive Ursula of the benefits offered
by the Catholic religion. The doctor, sitting at the moment on a bench
outside the Chinese pagoda, felt the pressure of the abbe's hand on his.

"Yes, abbe, every time she talks to me of God I shall send her to her
friend 'Shapron,'" he said, imitating Ursula's infant speech, "I wish to
see whether religious sentiment is inborn or not. Therefore I shall do
nothing either for or against the tendencies of that young soul; but in
my heart I have appointed you her spiritual guardian."

"God will reward you, I hope," replied the abbe, gently joining his
hands and raising them towards heaven as if he were making a brief
mental prayer.

So, from the time she was six years old the little orphan lived under
the religious influence of the abbe, just as she had already come under
the educational training of her friend Jordy.

The captain, formerly a professor in a military academy, having a
taste for grammar and for the differences among European languages, had
studied the problem of a universal tongue. This learned man, patient as
most old scholars are, delighted in teaching Ursula to read and write.
He taught her also the French language and all she needed to know of
arithmetic. The doctor's library afforded a choice of books which could
be read by a child for amusement as well as instruction.

The abbe and the soldier allowed the young mind to enrich itself with
the freedom and comfort which the doctor gave to the body. Ursula
learned as she played. Religion was given with due reflection. Left
to follow the divine training of a nature that was led into regions of
purity by these judicious educators, Ursula inclined more to sentiment
than to