“When this was finished, he said, ‘Well, little daughter and big sons, you have saved my life and risked your own, than which a man can do nothing nobler.’ Then he told us that he was a bishop and that he had been visiting on the Sioux reservation. He had heard that there was discontent among the tribe and he knew that he could do much toward restoring peace.
“‘My pilgrimage had been a successful one,’ the Bishop ended, ‘but not being familiar with the signs of your sky, I ventured away unwisely.’
“The next day the storm had passed and the prairie was covered with glistening snow.
“When the good Bishop learned that the boys were working hard and saving so that they might send me East to school, the kind man said, ‘Lads, I want to do something to prove my gratitude. Let me do this.’
“And that is why I am here at Linden Hall,” Matilda ended simply.
The girls had been listening with breathless attention. “What an interesting story that was!” Doris Drexel declared. “I am as glad as I can be that you have come to our school.”
The new pupil, knowing that the speaker was sincere, smiled, and there was a happy light in her beautiful brown eyes as she said:
“I want to thank you all for welcoming me so kindly. I know that I must look queer,” she added, glancing down at her old-fashioned dress, “but you see we do not have dressmakers out on the prairie, and I had no mother to help me.”
Adele sprang to her feet as she exclaimed: “Stand up, Matilda. I want to see how tall you are.”
Wonderingly the girl arose and stood by Adele, who said brightly, “Trudie, aren’t we very near of a size?”