ad said to each other about the heavenly land, and she
repeated the hymn that Nora had taught her. Then she told how quietly
Nora had left her at last, and said that she hoped to follow her soon
into her beautiful home.

Clarissa hung upon every word that fell from Elsi's lips with gratitude
and satisfaction. It was she who had taught Nora that hymn as she sat
upon her knees when she was a very little child, and as she heard it
repeated now it was with the same tones, the same motions of hand and
head that the child had used who learned it from her own lips; it seemed
to Clarissa as if Nora lived again in Elsli. Weeping with mingled joy
and sorrow, she went in search of Mrs. Stanhope.

"Surely," she exclaimed, "this child is the image of our darling; it is
her sister, with her voice, her words, her very thought. This, too, is
our child."

Mrs. Stanhope roused herself for a moment to listen to Clarissa's words,
but she was not moved by them; she threw herself again on her bed and
would not be comforted. Clarissa was not disheartened by this
indifference; she was so completely impressed herself by the wonderful
resemblance between the children that she led Elsli into the room where
the hopeless mother lay in full indulgence of her grief, and said:--

"I bring you this little girl, Mrs. Stanhope; for I look upon her as a
legacy that our Nora has left us."

Mrs. Stanhope looked for a moment into the girl's face; then she
suddenly kissed her and said:--

"Elsli, Nora loved you, and you loved her. You shall stay with me
always"; and they all three wept together, but there was healing in the
tears.

Like one in a dream Elsli went home that day. She understood, but not
wholly, what had happened. She had believed that Nora would ask her
heavenly Father to call her to heaven, and would come herself to meet
her; and now it seemed as if she had already come to meet her to lead
her elsewhere than to heaven.

Clarissa went to make the arrangements with Marget, about which there
was no difficulty whatever. For as soon as Marget understood that not
only was Elsli to be provided with a home for life, but that the help
which she might have afforded her parents as she grew older was to be
made good to them, she was overjoyed. She said that Elsli was not fit
for hard work, and that the care of the little boys was quite beyond
her, especially since Hans was growing more and more troublesome. So she
gladly agreed to let her go, wit