"Socialists—communists ..." said the lad smiling.
"Well, those are the people for me. I vote for a redistribution, so that the rich should give the poor all they have too much of. Why should this orphan go barefoot when I wear shoes? Even wicked people ought not to be destitute, much less good ones. Now, I know that Nela is very good, you told me so last evening, and your father said so too. And she has no parents, no one to care for her. How is it that there are so many, many, miserable creatures in the world? My bread burns my mouth when I remember how many there are who have none at all. Poor little Nela! such a good child, and so forlorn! It seems impossible that to this day you should have lived without being loved, without any one to give you a kiss nor to cuddle and pet you as we pet little children—my heart aches to think of it."
Marianela was as completely petrified with astonishment as at the first sight of the apparition. Then she had seen the Virgin Mary, now she heard her very words.
"Listen, little one," the Holy Maiden went on, "and you, Pablo, listen too. I must help and comfort Nela—not as we help the beggars by the road, but as we try to help a brother whom we find unexpectedly. Did you not tell me that she has been your companion, your lazarillo, your guide through the darkness? That you saw with her eyes and trod in her steps? Nela is mine as much as yours then, and I shall take charge of her. I will dress her and give her everything she can want to live decently, and teach her a hundred things to make her useful in the house. Papa told me that perhaps I might always have to live here; and, if so, Nela will live with me; with me she will learn to read, to say her prayers, to sew and to cook; she will learn so many things that she will know as much as I do. What do you think of my plan? She will soon be nothing short of a young lady. My father will not prevent me I know. Indeed, last evening he said to me: 'Florentinilla perhaps, perhaps, before long I shall not rule you any longer; you may have to obey another master....' Well, be that as it may, Nela shall be my friend. Will you love me? dearly? You have lived so neglected—as the wild flowers grow in the fields—that you do not even know how to say thank you—but never mind I will teach you; oh! I have to teach you so many things."
Marianela, who had been making stupendous efforts not to cry as she listened to these splendid promises, could at last hold in no longer and, after screwing up her face for a minute, burst into tears. The blind boy sat silent, lost in thought.
"Florentina," he said presently, "you speak and think differently from most other people. Your goodness is as infinite and as enthusiastic as that which has filled the world with martyrs and peopled heaven with saints."
"What an extravagant way of putting it!" said the girl laughing, and she rose to gather a flower that had attracted her attention at some little distance.
"Is she gone?" asked Pablo.
"Yes," said Nela, gulping down her tears.
"Do you know?" said Pablo, "I fancy my cousin must be rather pretty. When she arrived last evening I felt the greatest antipathy towards her; I cannot tell you what a dislike I took to her. But to-day I fancy I can see her, and that she must be rather pretty."