ng, Veronica? Where did you
learn that? I never expected to hear such words from your lips. It is not
like you. What put that into your head, child?"

"I will tell you something of my experience, and then you will understand
why I use this expression," said Veronica quietly. "When I was only a
little girl I learned a motto which ran thus:

'Fortune stands ready, full in sight;
He wins, who knows to grasp it right.'

I saw that 'fortune' was something good to have, and I wanted to find out
how it could be grasped. I asked Cousin Judith, and she told me it must be
grasped like everything else with our hands, that is to say, through work.
From that time forward I was eager for work as other children are for
play, and the older I grow, the more I strive for the good fortune that
can be grasped by work. Even on Sundays I often go to my room to sew, and
I shut my door, for my mother does not like to see me sew then. I work on
and on, just as long as I can sit at it, even into the night; sometimes
till one and two o'clock in the morning; yet I do not find the fortune I
want. When my hands are busy, my thoughts wander where they will, and I
must follow them. But they do not lead to 'fortune,' but only farther away
from it. This offer may bring me a fortune in money and position, but that
is not the fortune I want. 'Fortune' for me, means happiness."

Sabina had not lost a word of this sad story.

"Yes, yes, I understand you, Veronica," she said sympathizingly. "I know
something of this too. Judith told you the truth, but only one half the
truth. Fortune is grasped by the hands, it is true; but the Fortune which
you long for, that is, Happiness, is to be gained in other ways besides. I
will tell you an instructive little story, and if you will take the
trouble to grasp it, not with your hands, but with your thoughts and
understanding, you will be able to work it out for yourself and get some
profit from it. It is part of the story of my own life. I have had so much
the same experience as yours that I cannot help hoping that what I found
good for myself, may prove good for you."

"When I was about your age, Veronica, I was so unhappy that I cried myself
to sleep every night. Can you guess why? No, for one understands only the
sufferings that he has himself experienced, and cannot imagine those of
others. Well, it was because I was a hunchback! I remember as if it were
yesterday, when I first came to a perception of