and you,
Mary, my sweet, precious darling."

At this the water-wagtail humed forward with outstretched arms, but Dame
Joanna put out a significantly warning hand; and they who were one in
heart clasped each other in a last embrace as though they were indeed
but one and no stranger could have any part in it.

Once more Katharina tried to approach Paula; but Martina, whose eyes
filled with tears as she looked on the parting, held her back by the
shoulder and whispered:

"Do not disturb them, child. Such hearts spontaneously attract those for
whom they yearn. I, old as I am, would gladly be worthy to be called."

The interpreter now sternly insisted on starting. The three women
parted; but still the little girl held tightly to Paula, even when she
went up to the matron and kissed her with a natural impulse. Martina
took her head between her hands, kissed her fondly, and said in a voice
she could scarcely control: "God protect and keep you, child! I thank
Him for having brought us together. A soul so pure and clear as yours is
not to be found in the capital, but we still know how to be friends to
our friends--at any rate I and my husband do--and if Heaven but grants
me the opportunity you shall prove it. You never need feel alone in the
world; never, so long as Justinus and his wife are still in it. Remember
that, child; I mean it in solemn earnest."

With this, she again embraced Paula, who as she went out to enter the
chariot also bestowed a farewell kiss on Eudoxia and Mandane, for they,
too, stood modestly weeping in the background; then she gave her hand to
the hump-backed gardener, and to the Masdakite, down whose cheeks tears
were rolling. At this moment Katharina stood in her path, seized her arm
in mortified excitement, and said insistently:

"And have you not a word for me?"

Paula freed herself from her clutch and said in a low voice: "I thank
you for lending me the chariot. As you know, it is taking me to prison,
and I fear it is your perfidy that has brought me to this. If I am
wrong, forgive me--if I am right, your punishment will hardly be lighter
than my fate. You are still young, Katharina; try to grow better."

And with this she stepped into the chariot with old Betta, and the last
she saw was little Mary who threw herself sobbing into Joanna's arms.

CHAPTER XIV.

Susannah had never particularly cared for Paula, but her fate shocked
her and moved her to pity. She must at once enquire whet