So said the reverend mother, and advancing, she tried to take the little hand; but the child, terrified, clung to his father, uttering Indian words indicative of fear at the strange figure before him, such as he had never seen before.
“He will soon get accustomed to us,” said the mother gently. “Sister Mercèdes, will you try your influence?”
Charles whispered a few words to the boy, and, sitting down, placed him on his knee, and as Mercèdes approached, he said,—
“Mademoiselle, your father bade me enquire after your health and well-being.”
“Tell my dear father I am well and happy,” she answered; “and that we pray unceasingly for his success.”
She spoke quite calmly, and the colour had come back into her face.
“I will not forget,” he answered; then again he spoke to the child. The boy looked up at the young novice, who, trembling slightly, held out her arms and smiled upon him, speaking a few soft words such as she had been wont to use to her little sister at home, and he answered with a wild cry, like a bird.
“He is only a little savage; you must tame him,” said Charles, rising and placing the child in her arms; and bowing low before her and the mother, he went towards the door. He paused one second on the threshold, and the last thing he saw was the white figure of the nun, clasping in her arms the child in its red robe and gaudy beads.
Would they ever meet again?