I was not treated as one of themselves, but as a sort of upper servant, though a lady by birth, breeding and education," the woman remarked, her tone growing more and more bitter as she proceeded.
"But was it right?
was it just and generous to vent your anger upon a poor little innocent girl who had no mother and no father there to defend her ?" asked the child, her soft eyes rilling with tears.
"Well maybe not; but it's the way people generally do.

Your mother was a good little thing, provokingly good sometimes; pretty too, and heiress, they said, to an immense fortune.

Is she rich still?
or did she lose it all by the war ?" "She did not lose it all, I know," said Elsie, "but how rich she is I do not know; mamma and papa seldom talk of any but the true riches." "Just like her, for all the world!" muttered the woman.

Then aloud and sneeringly, "Pray what do you mean by the true riches ?" "Those which can never be taken from us; treasure laid up in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and thieves break not through to steal." The sweet child voice ceased and silence reigned in the room for a moment, while the splashing of the rain upon the roof could be distinctly heard.
Mrs.Gibson was the first to speak again.

"Well I'd like to have that kind, but I'd like wonderfully well to try the other a while first." Elsie looked at the thin, sallow face with its hollow cheeks and sunken eyes, and wished mamma were there to talk of Jesus to this poor woman, who surely had but little time to prepare for another world.
"Is your mother at the Crags ?" asked Mrs.Gibson turning to her again.
Elsie answered in the affirmative, adding that they had been there for some time and would probably remain a week or two longer.
"Do you think she would be willing to come here to see me ?" was the next question, almost eagerly put.
"Mamma is very kind and I am sure she will come if you wish to see her," answered the child.
"Then tell her I do; tell her I, her old governess, am sick and poor and in great trouble." Tears rolled down her cheeks and for a moment her eyes rested upon her daughter's face with an expression of keen anguish.