f Louise, whose name was Saturnin, had
transferred his affection to the younger sister. Saturnin, to his
credit, did try to overcome his passion for Therese, but only found
himself becoming more hopelessly in love with her handsome face and
engaging ways. Van Zwanenburg stormed, and even forbade the young man
his house.

Louise herself seemed to be the only one who did not see how things were
going. She was happy in her love, which, indeed, was only increased by
the thought that her promised husband and her sister seemed to be on the
best of terms.

But one day she received a terrible awakening from her happy dreams. She
heard two voices whispering, and, almost mechanically, stopped to
listen. It was Saturnin and Therese. "I will do my duty," Saturnin was
saying; "I will wed Louise. I will try to hide from her that I have
loved another, even though I die through it."

Great was the grief of poor Louise, though, brave girl as she was, she
strove to stifle her feelings, lest she should give pain to those she
loved. A little later she sought Van Zwanenburg, and begged that he
would restore Saturnin to favour, and consent to his marriage with
Therese. She was successful in her mission of love, though not at first.

[Sidenote: A Terrible Blow]

Hiding her almost broken heart, Louise now strove to find comfort in the
thought that she had made others happy, though she had to admit it was
at a terrible cost to herself.

Her unselfishness had a great effect upon the old artist, whose
admiration for his adopted daughter now knew no bounds. Through her he
was restored to his faith in human nature, and he asked God to forgive
him for ever doubting the existence of virtue.

We cannot follow Louise Gerretz through the next twenty years. Suffice
it to say that during that time Van Zwanenburg passed peacefully away,
and that Paul Rembrandt, whose reputation was now well established, had
married. The lonely sister tried to get on with Paul's wife, but after a
few years she had sadly to seek a home of her own.

At the end of the twenty years Louise one day received the following
curt letter from her miserly brother:

"SISTER,--My wife is dead, my son is travelling, I
am alone.

"PAUL REMBRANDT."

The devoted sister, still intent on making others happy, started at once
to her brother, and until the day of his death she never left him. A
great change had come