she longed to
fold against her breast; that the woman she loved and of whose fate she
had no intimation, was living and well cared for, though her shelter was
that of a hospital, and her prospects those of the grave.

On the other hand, the awful nature of the circumstances which had
brought her to her present condition, were such as to make any generous
heart pause before shocking the love and trust of such a woman as Mrs.
Hamlin, by a relation of the criminal act by which Jacqueline had slain
her child and endangered her own existence. Better let the poor old lady
go on hoping against hope till she sinks into her grave, than destroy
life and hope at once by a revelation of her darling's reckless
depravity.

And yet if the poor creature in the hospital might be moved to
repentance by some word from Mrs. Hamlin, would it not be a kindness to
the latter to allow her, though even at the risk of her life, to
accomplish the end for which she indeed professed to live?

The mind of Paula was as yet undecided, when a child from the village
passed the window, and seeing her sitting there, handed her a small
package with the simple message that Mrs. Hamlin was very ill. It
contained, as she anticipated, the great key to the Japha mansion, and
understanding without further words, what was demanded of her, Paula
prepared to keep the promise she had long ago made to this devoted
woman. For though she knew the uselessness of the vigil proposed to her,
she none the less determined to complete it. Easier to sit an hour in
that dark old house, than to explain herself to Mrs. Hamlin. Besides,
the time was good for prayer, and God knows the wretched object of all
this care and anxiety, stood in need of all the petitions that might be
raised for her.

Telling her aunts that she had a call to make in the village, she glided
hurriedly away, and ere she realized all to which she was committed,
found herself standing in the now darkened streets, before the grim door
of that dread and mysterious mansion. Never had it looked more
forbidding; never had the two gruesome poplars cast a deeper shadow, or
rustled with a more woful sound in the chill evening air. The very
windows seemed to repel her with their darkened panes, behind which she
could easily imagine the spirits of the dead, moving and peering. A
chill not unlike that of terror, assailed her limbs, and it was with a
really heroic action that she finally opened the gate and glided up