My father
died, and I had a stepmother; and my stepmother died, and when she
was dying she gave me a charge. It was a great charge, and it weighs
heavily on my heart, and makes me feel very old. My stepmother had a
daughter who ran away from her when she married my father. My
stepmother thinks she went to France, and got lost in France, and she
gave me a purse of money--some to give to Lovedy, and some to spend
in looking for her. I feel that Lovedy has gone south, and I am going
down south, too, to find her. I, and my little brother, and our dog,
and a big, kind boy--we are all going south to find Lovedy. And last
night Jesus the Guide came to me in a dream, and told me that my
purse was in danger, and He told me to come to you. Satan had nothing
at all to say to it. It was Jesus sent me to you."
"I believe you, child," said Miss Smith. "You bring the strangest
tale, but I believe you. You bring a purse containing a lot of money
to a starving woman. Well, I never was brought so low as not to be
honest yet. How much money is in the purse, little girl?"
"There are four ten-pound notes--that makes forty pounds," said
Cecile--"that is Lovedy's money; there are about eleven pounds of the
money I must spend. You must give me that eleven pounds, please, Miss
Smith, and you must keep the forty pounds very, _very_ safely
until I come for it, or send for it."
"What is your name, little girl?"
"Cecile D'Albert."
"Well, Cecile, don't you think that if you had a dream about the
forty pounds being in danger, that the eleven pounds will be in
danger too? Someone must have guessed you had that money, little one,
and and if they can't get hold of the forty pounds, they will take
the eleven.
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