here, the difficulty of getting
supplies in her own household; Sandie Shubrick, finally, and Lawrence
St. Leger! What a strange difference between one lot and another! It
was a bright night; the moonlight streamed in at one of the windows in
a yellow flood. Dolly lay staring at the pool of light on the floor.
Roman moonlight! And so the same moonlight had poured down in old times
upon the city of the Caesars; lighted up their palaces and triumphal
arches; yes, and the pile of the Colosseum and the bones of the
martyrs. The same moonlight! Old Rome lay buried; the oppressor and the
oppressed were passed away; the persecutor and his victims alike long
gone from the scene of their doings and sufferings; and the same moon
shining on! What shadows we are in comparison! thought Dolly; and then
her thoughts instantly corrected themselves. Not we, but _this_, is the
shadow; this material, so unchanging earth. Sense misleads us. "The
world passeth away and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of
God abideth for ever." Then it is only to do that, thought Dolly; be it
hard or easy; that is the only thing to care about. And therewith
another word came to her; it seemed to be written in the
moonlight:--"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" It came so
soft and sweet upon Dolly's heart as I can hardly tell; her eyelids
dropped from their watch, and in another minute she too was fast asleep.

The next day was wholly pleasant to her. It was merry, as Christmas
ought to be; and Dolly had laid aside her own cares and took everything
as light-heartedly as anybody else. More, perhaps, if the truth were
known; for Dolly had laid her cares she knew where, and that they would
be looked after. The pleasant people, whose festivities she shared,
were all kind to her; she had not been forgotten in the gifts which
were flying about; and altogether the day was a white one. It only
ended too soon. At four o'clock Dolly prepared to go home. Christina
protested that she was not wanted there.

"I am wanted more than you think. I must give mother a piece of my
Christmas Day."

"Well, you're all coming to us at Sorrento, remember; and that will be
charming. We will go everywhere together. And Sandie;--you will be with
us, Sandie? in the spring, at the villa? Oh, you must!"

"If I possibly can," he said gravely.

"And Sandie will take you home now, as you must go. I see he is ready."

Dolly would have objected, but she could not a