The little matron let her weep for a while; then she released herself, and wiped away her own tears and those of her tall darling, which had fallen on her smooth grey hair.

She took Paula's chin in a firm hand and turned her face towards her own, saying tenderly but decidedly: "There, that is enough.

You might cry and welcome, for it eases the heart, but that it is so late.

Is it the old story: home-sickness, annoyances, and so forth, or is there anything new ?" "Alas, indeed!" replied the girl.

She pressed her handkerchief in her hands as she went on with excited vehemence: "I am in the last extremity, I can bear it no longer, I cannot--I cannot! I am no longer a child, and when in the evening you dread the night and in the morning dread the day which must be so wretched, so utterly unendurable...." "Then you listen to reason, my darling, and say to yourself that of two evils it is wise to choose the lesser.