steps, and stood upon the threshold, where she and Lilly had so often sat, in years gone by.  Mrs. Williams met her at the door, wondering what unusual occurrence induced a visitor at this unseasonable hour.  The hall lamp shone on her kind but anxious face, and as Beulah looked at her, remembered care and love caused a feeling of suffocation, and, with an exclamation of joy, she threw her arms around her.  Astonished at a greeting so unexpected, the matron glanced hurriedly at the face pressed against her bosom, and, recognizing her quondam charge, folded her tenderly to her heart.

“Beulah, dear child, I am so glad to see you!” As she kissed her white cheeks, Beulah felt the tears dropping down upon them.

“Come into my room, dear, and take off your bonnet.”  She led her to the quiet little room, and took the bundle and the antiquated bonnet, which Pauline declared “Mrs. Noah had worn all through the forty days’ shower.”

“Mrs. Williams, can I stay here with you until I can get a place somewhere?  The managers will not object, will they?”

“No, dear; I suppose not.  But, Beulah, I thought you had been adopted, just after Lilly died, by Dr. Hartwell?  Here I have been, ever since I heard it from some of the managers, thinking how lucky it was for you, and feeling so thankful to God for remembering his orphans.  Child, what has happened?  Tell me freely, Beulah.”

With her head on the matron’s shoulder, she imparted enough of what had transpired to explain her leaving her adopted home.  Mrs. Williams shook her head, and said sadly: 

“You have been too hasty, child.  It was Dr. Hartwell’s house; he had taken you to it, and, without consulting and telling him, you should not have left it.  If you felt that you could not live there in peace with his sister, it was your duty to have told him so, and then decided as to what course you would take.  Don’t be hurt, child, if I tell you you are too proud.  Poverty and pride make a bitter lot in this world; and take care you don’t let your high spirit ruin your prospects.  I don’t mean to say, dear, that you ought to bear insult and oppression, but I do think you owed it to the doctor’s kindness to have waited until his return before you quitted his house.”

“Oh, you do not know him!  If he knew all that Mrs. Chilton said and did he would turn her and Pauline out of the house immediately.  They are poor, and, but for him, could not live without toil.  I have no right to cause their ruin.  She is his sister, and has a claim on him.  I have none.  She expects Pauline to inherit his fortune, and could not bear to think of his adopting me.  I don’t wonder at that so much.  But she need not have been so cruel, so insulting.  I don’t want his money, or his house, or his elegant furniture.  I only want an education, and his advice, and his kind care for a few years.  I like Pauline very much indeed.  She never treated me at all unkindly; and I could not bear to bring misfortune on her, she is so happy.”