'I did tell him.'
'That was very brave of you and very noble. I fear my advice cost you dear.'
A smile that was almost happy at his praise parted her lips and showed her small white teeth.
'You told me what was right,' she said. 'It would have been cowardly to say nothing.'
'It was very brave to say the truth. You shall tell me all that happened from it on another day. I can never forgive myself for all the misery which my wife's thoughtless invitation has entailed on you. Let me do my best to atone for it.'
Then he bowed low with unfeigned reverence, and left her. What was so worthy of reverence as so much innocence, as so much courage?
She drew a long sigh, and her eyes closed. She was tired with the exhausted sense of failing powers which the feebleness of illness causes after every slight exertion. But his visit had left on her a deep, sweet sense of serenity and safety.
'How good and great he is!' she said dreamily to the nun, as the door closed on him.
The pious woman did not reply. Othmar was not her idea of human excellence. He went to no church, and he supported no religious institutions. Besides, as she thought to herself, who could tell what motives he had in taking this handsome child off the streets? It was not her business to speak; her superiors had sent her there, and had said to her: 'Nurse the girl, and say nothing.' But the Sister had not gone on her many errands of mercy for a score of years in all the quarters of Paris, good and bad, rich and poor, without knowing the meaning of human vices. She began to convey vague warnings, and cite praiseworthy examples of temptation resisted and overcome to her patient. Her voice went on and on unanswered, like the flowing of a slothful brook, and when at last she looked up from her embroidery, Damaris was asleep upon her couch, the last red reflection from the sun, which had set beyond the trees of the gardens, tinging her face with its warmth, and her hair with its light. For the first time since she had been brought there her expression, as she slept, was one of peace.
But soon she woke again, startled and distressed. The tears sprang to her eyes; she pressed her hands together in passionate agitation.