jewellery for coarse blue
gown, blue apron, and white cap?"

"Do you imagine the colour of your garments will change the
complexion of your heart and mind? You remind me of Alexander's
comment upon Antipater: 'Outwardly Antipater wears only white
clothes, but within he is all purple.'"

"Ah! but my purple pride has been utterly dethroned, and it seems to
me now that when I find rest in cloistered duties the quiet sacred
seclusion will prove in some degree like the well _Zem-Zem_, in which
Gabriel washed Mohammed's heart, filled it with faith, and restored
it to his bosom. Until I am housed safely from the roar and gibes and
mockery of the world, I shall not grow better; for here

'God sends me back my prayers, as a father
Returns unoped the letters of a son
Who has dishonoured him.'

"To conquer the world is nobler than to shun it, and to a nature such
as yours, Olga, other lines in that poem ought to appeal with
peculiar force:

'If thy rich heart is like a palace shattered,
Stand up amid the ruins of thy heart,
And with a calm brow front the solemn stars--
A brave soul is a thing which all things serve.'"

The scheme which you are revolving now is one utterly antagonistic to
the wishes of your mother, and God would not bless a step which
involved the sacrifice of your duty to her."

"After a time mamma will approve; till then I shall be patient. She
has consented for me to go to the Mother House at Kaiserswerth, and
to some of the Deaconess establishments in Paris and Dresden, in
order that I may become thoroughly acquainted with the esoteric
working of the system. I am anxious also to visit the institution for
training nurses at Liverpool, and unless we sail directly for Havre,
we shall soon have an opportunity of gratifying my wishes."

Regina took the book from her hand, turned over the leaves, and read:

"'All probationers must be unbetrothed, and their heart still
free.'... 'A short life history of the previous inward and outward
experiences of the future Deaconess pupil. It must be composed and
written by herself.' Olga, what would you do with your past?"

"I have buried it, dear. All the love of which I was capable I poured
out, nay, I crushed the heart that held it; as the Syrian woman broke
the precious box of costly ointment, anointing the feet of her God!
When my clay idol fell I could not gather back the wasted trust an