God led us from Domremy, and with me
shall He do as seemeth good to Him. We were children then, Elsie; but
now may we be children no longer!"
"I will be faithful to my mother. Go, Jacqueline,--let me alone."
Elsie said this with so much spirit that Jacqueline answered quickly,
and yet very kindly,--
"I did not mean to trouble you, dear,--but--no matter now."
No sooner had Jacqueline left the house than Elsie went down to a church
near by, where she confessed herself to the priest, and received such
goodly counsel as was calculated to fortify her against Jacqueline in
the future.
* * * * *
Jacqueline went to the house of the wool-comber, as of late had been her
nightly custom,--but not, as heretofore, to lighten the loneliness
and anxiety of the mother of Leclerc. Already she had said to the old
woman,--
"I need not work now for my father's redemption. Then I will work for
you, if your son is disabled. Let us believe that God brought me here
for this. I am strong. You can lean on me. Try it."
Now she went to make repetition of the promise to Leclerc, if,
perchance, he had come back to his mother sick and sore and helpless.
For this reason, when she entered the humble home of the martyr, his
eyes fell on her, and he saw her as she had been an angel; how serene
was her countenance; and her courage was manifestly such as no mortal
fear, no human affliction, could dismay.
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