was a wonderful man, this dear father of mine, and how he did love the
Lord! My one desire is to be like him."

"Yes, but you are only a girl yet," I said to her.

"That's true, Lisita, naturally I know that, but father used to say to me,
'You're not too small to serve the Lord, Paula!' I read the Bible with him
many times, and when we didn't have time to read it in the house, we took
it to the fields with us and read it as we rested. Then as I watched the
cows and sheep, I read the Book alone. And now you and I can read it
together; can we not, Lisita? And I know the Lord will help us to make
everybody else happy around us. I've never had a sister, and now that you
say you wish to be my sister, my prayers are answered!"

Then after a pause, she said, "Why don't you answer me, Lisita?" And she
laid her head on my shoulder and fixed her great eyes upon me. How could I
answer her! I had a great desire to tell her of the true situation. We all
of us wished to be as good as possible, if that should please her, but we
would never be permitted to read the Bible. I knew father would never
consent to that. Yet how could I tell her that things in our house were not
as they were in hers--in that God was never mentioned! Then I remembered a
long discussion our old servant had had that very morning with my sisters
on this subject, and Teresa had ended the matter by saying, "She's only a
little girl, anyway, and she'll soon become accustomed to do as we do.
Besides your father will remember how she has been brought up, and he has
too good a heart to make the poor child unhappy. Of course in the end the
thing will finally adjust itself. Poor little thing! How she would suffer
if we should bluntly tell her the truth that we live here in this house
like a bunch of savages."