At this question Mary's eyes suddenly sparkled again. In an instant all
her woes were forgotten, even her ancestor's flattened nose, and with a
merry, hearty laugh she exclaimed:

"Oh! you should have seen it! You would have been amused too. They
wanted to catch the bad man who cut the emerald out of the hanging. He
had left his shoes and they had held them under the dogs' noses and
then off they went! First they rushed here to the stairs; then to the
stables, then to the lodgings of one of the horse-trainers, and I kept
close behind, after the terriers and the other dogs. Then they stopped
to consider and at last they all ran out at the gate towards the town. I
ought not to have gone beyond the court-yard, but--do not be cross
with me--it was such fun!--Out they went, along Hapi Street, across the
square, and at last into the Goldsmith's Street, and there the whole
pack plunged into Gamaliel's shop--the Jew who is always so merry. While
he was talking to the others his wife gave me some apricot tartlets; we
do not have such good ones at home."

"And did they find the man?" asked Paula, who had changed color
repeatedly during the child's story.

"I do not know," said Mary sadly. "They were not chasing any one in
particular. The dogs kept their noses to the ground, and we ran after
them."

"And only to catch a man, who certainly had nothing whatever to do with
the theft.--Reflect a little, Mary. The shoes gave the dogs the scent
and they were set on to seize the man who had worn them, but whom no
judge had examined. The shoes were found in the hall; perhaps he had
dropped them by accident, or some one else may have carried them there.
Now think of yourself in the place of an innocent man, a Christian
like ourselves, hunted with a pack of dogs like a wild beast. Is it not
frightful? No good heart should laugh at such a thing!"

Paula spoke with such impressive gravity and deep sorrow, and her whole
manner betrayed such great and genuine distress that the child looked
tip at her anxiously, with tearful eyes, threw herself against her, and
hiding her face in Paula's dress exclaimed: "I did not know that they
were hunting a poor man, and if it makes you so sad, I wish I had not
been there! But is it really and truly so bad? You are so often unhappy
when we others laugh!" She gazed into Paula's face with wide, wondering
eyes through her tears, and Paula clasped her to her, kissed her fondly,
and replied with melancholy