He would give her a beautiful house with carriages and servants, and she would not have to work.
"But if you are not there, what's the good of anything ?" she said.
"I'll come to see you, silly dear," he replied ingenuously.
Before they parted for the night she threw her arms round his neck impulsively.

"Don't quite forget me, Paul.

It would break my heart.
I've only you left now poor mother's gone." Paul kissed her and vowed again.

He did not vow that he would be a mother to her, though to the girl's heart it seemed as if he did.

The little girl was aching for a note in his voice that never came.