her:

"You are quite forlorn, quite without relations?" Arsinoe bowed her head
in assent, and Paulina went on:

"And do you bear your loss with resignation?"

"What is resignation?" asked the girl modestly. Hannah laid her hand on
the widow's arm and whispered:

"She is a heathen."

"I know it," said Paulina shortly, and then went on kindly but
positively:

"You and yours have lost both parents and a home by your father's death.
You shall find a new home in my house, with me; I ask nothing of you in
return but your love."

Arsinoe looked at the haughty lady in astonishment. She could not yet
feel any impulse of affection towards her, and she did not as yet
understand that what was required of her was the one gift which the best
will, the most loving heart in the world, could not offer at a command.
Paulina did not wait for her reply, but signed to Hannah to follow her to
join the congregation now assembled at the evening meal.

A quarter of an hour later the two women returned. The steward's orphans
were provided for. Two or three Christian families were ready and
willing to take in some of them, and many a kindly house-mother had
begged to have the blind child; but in vain, for Hannah had claimed the