The scribe had informed her that she was charged dy Bishop Plotinus with having plotted the escape and flight of the nuns, and Joanna’s knees trembled under her when Paula whispered in her ear: 

“Beware of Katharina!  No one else could have betrayed us; if she has also revealed what Rufinus did for the sisters we must deny it, positively and unflinchingly.  Fear nothing:  they will get not a word out of me.”  Then she added aloud:  “I need not beg you to remember me lovingly; thanks to you both—­the warmest, deepest thanks for all....  You, Pul. . . .”  And she clasped the mother and daughter to her bosom, while Mary, clinging to her, hid her little face in her skirts, weeping bitterly. . . .  “You, Dame Joanna, took me in, a forlorn creature, and made me happy till Fate fell on us all—­you know, ah! you know too well.  —­The kindness you have shown to me show now to my little Mary.  And there is one thing more—­here comes the interpreter again!—­A moment yet, I beg!—­If the messenger should return and bring news of my father or, my God! my God!—­my father himself, let me know, or bring him to me!—­Or, if I am dead by the time he comes, tell him that to find him, to see him once more, was my heart’s dearest wish.  And beg my father,” she breathed the words into Joanna’s ear, “to love Orion as a son.  And tell them both that I loved them to the last, deeply, perfectly, beyond words!” Then she added aloud as:  she kissed each on her eyes and lips:  “I love you and shall always love you—­you, Joanna, and you, my Pulcheria, and you, Mary, my sweet, precious darling.”

At this the water-wagtail humed forward with outstretched arms, but Dame Joanna put out a significantly warning hand; and they who were one in heart clasped each other in a last embrace as though they were indeed but one and no stranger could have any part in it.

Once more Katharina tried to approach Paula; but Martina, whose eyes filled with tears as she looked on the parting, held her back by the shoulder and whispered: 

“Do not disturb them, child.  Such hearts spontaneously attract those for whom they yearn.  I, old as I am, would gladly be worthy to be called.”

The interpreter now sternly insisted on starting.  The three women parted; but still the little girl held tightly to Paula, even when she went up to the matron and kissed her with a natural impulse.  Martina took her head between her hands, kissed her fondly, and said in a voice she could scarcely control:  “God protect and keep you, child!  I thank Him for having brought us together.  A soul so pure and clear as yours is not to be found in the capital, but we still know how to be friends to our friends—­at any rate I and my husband do—­and if Heaven but grants me the opportunity you shall prove it.  You never need feel alone in the world; never, so long as Justinus and his wife are still in it.  Remember that, child; I mean it in solemn earnest.”