,
and Tulipa carried her in her arms and laid her on the bed. Madame
Guirlande led Rosa away, and the two sisters lay beside each other, on
the same pillows where they had dreamed such happy dreams the night
before. Floracita, stunned by the blow that had fallen on her so
suddenly, and rendered drowsy by the anodyne she had taken, soon fell
into an uneasy slumber, broken by occasional starts and stifled sobs.
Rosabella wept silently, but now and then a shudder passed over her,
that showed how hard she was struggling with grief. After a short
time, Flora woke up bewildered. A lamp was burning in the farther part
of the room, and Madame Guirlande, who sat there in spectacles and
ruffled cap, made a grotesque black shadow on the wall. Floracita
started up, screaming, "What is that?" Madame Guirlande went to her,
and she and Rosa spoke soothingly, and soon she remembered all.

"O, let me go home with _you_" she said to Madame "I am afraid to stay
here."

"Yes, my children," replied the good Frenchwoman. "You had better both
go home and stay with me to-night."

"I cannot go away and leave _him_ alone," murmured Rosa, in tones
almost inaudible.

"Franz Blumenthal is going to remain here," replied Madame Guirlande,"
and Tulipa has offered to sit up all night. It is much better for you
to go with me than to stay here, my children."

Thus exhorted, they rose and began to make preparations for departure.
But all at once the tender good-night of the preceding evening rushed
on Rosa's memory, and she sank down in a paroxysm of grief. After
weeping bitterly for some minutes, she sobbed out, "O, this is worse
than it was when Mamita died. Papasito was so tender with us then; and
now we are _all_ alone."

"Not all alone," responded Madame. "Jesus and the Blessed Virgin are
with you."

"O, I don't know where _they_ are!" exclaimed Flora, in tones of wild
agony. "I want my Papasito! I want to die and go to my Papasito."

Rosabella folded her in her arms, and they mingled their tears
together, as she whispered: "Let us try to be tranquil, Sistita. We
must not be troublesome to our kind friend. I did wrong to say we were
all alone. We have always a Father in heaven, and he still spares us
to love each other. Perhaps, too, our dear Papasito is watching over
us. You know he used to tell us Mamita had become our guardian angel."

Floracita kissed her, and pressed her hand in silence. Then they made
preparations to go with their f