"Papa! papa," she called, time after time.

"Your father's in heaven," answered Teresa, taking her tenderly in her
arms. "What would he think if he saw his little girl in such a state?"

"Oh, I only wish father had taken me with him! If I could only see him now!
You see, I promised him to read my Bible and now I cannot, for my uncle has
carried away the only one I had--that wonderful Book that told me of God,
and where my father had marked so many beautiful passages! Oh, papa, papa,
do come! Your daughter needs you now!"

Teresa, finally seeing that it was useless to try to comfort her, limited
herself to drying the floods of tears that still continued to flow. But
finally, thoroughly exhausted, Paula at last became calm and listened
tranquilly to Teresa's long story which we already knew so well, regarding
the death of our mother and Catalina's terrible fall. And following this,
she showed her that on account of these great misfortunes, instead of
leading our father to seek the Lord, it seemed on the contrary to have
hardened his heart. Thus he had become rebellious, and had made it an
established rule in our home that not a word should be uttered relative to
the Supreme Being. Then she added, "But don't you believe that he does not
care for you! If you could know how many times he has said that you should
lack nothing and should be treated as one of his own daughters."

"That is certainly true," said Rosa, who had entered during Teresa's
narrative. "Father appears severe, and this morning, of course, he became
very angry, but he is very good-hearted after all."

"I did not know, I did not know," said Paula, as she bowed her head; "how
my poor uncle must have suffered!"