“God help the boy!  I have prayed for him for years, and I shall pray for him still, though he has forgotten me.”

She sobbed, and covered her face with her apron.  A joyless smile flitted over Beulah’s fixed, grave features, as she said encouragingly: 

“He will come to see you when he returns from the North.  He has not forgotten you—­that is impossible.  Like me, he owes you too much.”

“I shall leave here very soon,” said Mrs. Williams, wiping her eyes.

“Leave the asylum! for what?”

“I am getting old, child, and my health is none of the best.  The duties are very heavy here, and I am not willing to occupy the position unless I could discharge all the duties faithfully.  I have sent in my resignation to the managers, and as soon as they succeed in getting another matron, I shall leave the asylum.  I am sorry to be obliged to go; I have been here so long that I am very much attached to the place and the children.  But I am not able to do what I have done, and I know it is right that I should give up the position.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I have means enough to live plainly the remainder of my life.  I intend to rent or buy a small house, and settle down and be quiet.  I feel now as if I should like to spend my days in peace.”

“Do you intend to live alone?”

“Yes, child; except a servant, I suppose I shall be quite alone.  But you will come to see me often, and perhaps Eugene will remember me some day, when he is in trouble.”

“No, I shall not come to see you at all!  I mean to come and live with you—­that is, if I may?” cried Beulah, springing up and laying her hand on the matron’s.

“God bless you, dear child; how glad I shall be!” She wound her arms round the slender form, and laughed through her tears.

Beulah gently put back the gray locks that had fallen from the border of her cap, and said hopefully: 

“I am sick of boarding—­sick of town!  Let us get a nice little house, where I can walk in and out to my school.  Have you selected any particular place?”

“No.  I have looked at two or three, but none suited me exactly.  Now you can help me.  I am so thankful you are going to be with me!  Will you come as soon as I can be released here?”

“Yes; just as soon as you are ready for me; and I think I know a house for rent which will just suit us.  Now I want it understood that I am to pay the rent.”

“Oh, no, child!  I won’t hear to it, for I am—­”

“Very well, then; I will stay where I am.”

“Oh, Beulah! you are not in earnest?”

“Yes, I am; so say no more about it.  I will come on no other condition.  I will see the owner of the house, ascertain what I can obtain it for, and send you word.  Then you can look at it and decide.”

“I am quite willing to trust it to you, child; only I can’t bear the thought of your paying the rent for it.  But we can arrange that afterward.”