“And He is abundantly able to shield us from evil. Is it not so, Helen?”
Helen was silenced, but not wholly convinced. This was the more remarkable, since nothing was more foreign to her nature than to cherish distrust of any living thing. Even now, her feeling was rather an instinctive foreboding than any clearly-defined suspicion. The presence of Mr. Sharp, polite and affable as he appeared, had not impressed her pleasantly,—why, she could not tell. Oftentimes children are truer in their instinctive perception of character than their elders. It is fortunate that, in the absence of that knowledge which experience alone can give, they should be provided with this safeguard against the evil designs of those who might injure them.
Nine o’clock pealed from the lofty steeple of Trinity. Helen heard the strokes as one by one they rang out upon the air, and she was warned of the near approach of the hour for rehearsal.
“It is nearly time for rehearsal,” she said, looking up in her father’s face. “Shall I go?”
“Do you really wish to go, Helen?”
“I really wish it, papa.”
“Then I will not interfere to prevent you. I have so much confidence in you, my child, that I am willing to trust you where others might suffer harm.”
The father and child parted. One returned to his humble lodging in the fourth story back; the other wended her way to the theatre.
CHAPTER XV.
THE OPPOSITE LODGER.
During the day Helen, in ascending the stairs, encountered M’lle Fanchette.