Madame Lambert was well known in Geneva, and had many friends there, to all of whom she introduced Emilia. It was through these introductions that Emilia was enabled to obtain employment as a governess, which occupied her four or five hours a day, and her sweetness and gentleness soon made her loved by all who knew her. In this way passed five happy years, and then a calamity occurred. Madame Lambert fell ill, and the doctors said that she could not recover. When this verdict was imparted to Madame Lambert, she received it with resignation.
"I have only one regret, my dear," she said to Emilia, "that I must say farewell to you and our child. But my spirit will be with you always."
"Dear friend, dear friend!" murmured Emilia.
"It's a great comfort to me to know," said the dying woman, "that you are well established here, and can get a living. You are so much loved that I have no fears of your future. I am truly sorry that I cannot leave you and our Constance a fortune. There is a little money, very little, but it will be useful; and in my will I have left the furniture of our home to you. Then I have been clever enough to pay the rent in advance for the next three years, so that you will be able to put by a little more. God bless you, my dear; you have brightened the last years of an old woman's life."
In a voice choked with emotion Emilia thanked and blessed the good lady, who smiled and fondled her hand. She saw little Constance frequently, but she would not allow the child to be saddened by keeping her too long in the room of a dying woman.
"Childhood should be bright," she said. "I want our child to remember me in my cheerful moods."
"She will remember and pray for you all her life," sobbed Emilia, "as I shall, dearest and best of friends."
The end came a little after midnight.
"Do you think," she whispered, with a pause between each word, "that you could let me kiss our dear child without awaking her?"
"I will bring her," said Emilia.