"And, oh!" continued Cecile with fervor, "I wish--I
wish I could find Lovedy for you again."
"Why, Cecile, that's just what you've got to do," said her
stepmother; "you've got to look for Lovedy: you're a very young
girl; you're only a child; but you've got to go on looking, _always
--always_ until you find her. The finding of my Lovedy is to be yer
life-work, Cecile. I don't want you to begin now, not till you're
older and have got more sense; but you has to keep it firm in yer
head, and in two or three years' time you must begin. You must go on
looking until you find my Lovedy. That is what you have to promise me
before I die."
"Yes, stepmother."
"Look me full in the face, Cecile, and make the promise as solemn as
though it were yer werry last breath--look me in the face, Cecile,
and say after me, 'I promise to find Lovedy again.'"
"I promise to find Lovedy again," repeated Cecile.
"Now kiss me, child."
Cecile did so.
"That kiss is a seal," continued her stepmother; "ef you break yer
promise, you'll remember as you kissed the lips of her who is dead,
and the feel 'ull haunt you, and you'll never know a moment's
happiness. But you're a good girl, Cecile--a good, dependable child,
and I'm not afeared for you. And now, my dear, you has made the
promise, and I has got to give you directions. Cecile, did you ever
wonder why your stepmother worked so hard?"
"I thought we must be very poor," said Cecile.
"No, my dear, yer father had that little bit of money coming in from
France every year.
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