Nothing led him to it except the irresistible zeal of my devout sister," answered Els, smiling, as she continued to comb her fair hair.

"She spoke with tongues in the ballroom, as the apostles did at Pentecost, and thus our 'little saint' performed her first miracle: the conversion of a godless knight during the dancing." "Call it so, if you choose," replied Eva, her red lips pouting scornfully, as if she felt raised above such pitiful derision.

"How you hurt, Els! You are pulling all the hair out of my head!" The object of this rebuke had used the comb with the utmost care, but the great luxuriance of the long, fair, waving locks had presented many an impediment, and Eva seemed unusually sensitive that night.

Els thought she knew why, and made no answer to the unjust charge.

She knew her sister; and as she wound the braids about her head, and then, in the maid's place, hung part of her finery on hooks, and laid part carefully in the chest, she asked her numerous questions about the dance, but was vouchsafed only monosyllabic replies.
At last Els knelt before the prie-dieu.