“Oh, dear!” said Maria. “Am I not dead? oh, dear!”
At this moment she caught sight of Patricia’s pale face close beside her. She shrank back with a cry.
“Why couldn’t you let me die?” she cried. “Don’t--don’t laugh at me, Patricia! Please go away, and let me die!”
Patricia was about to speak, but Soeur Séraphine signed to her to be silent.
“A little later!” she murmured. “Go now, my child! Thou also, Honor; return in ten minutes.”
As they turned to go, a piece of paper blew off the table and fell at Patricia’s feet. She picked it up mechanically, and saw her own name on it. The two girls passed into Patricia’s room, which was on the other side of Maria’s. Patricia lighted her candle, and read,
“Patricia, it is true, what I told Honor. I did not mean to steal the ring. Please take Honor back. I will not disgrace her when she was so good to me.
“Oh, Patricia!” cried Honor. “What--what did she do? What was that dreadful smell? Patricia! you are white as a sheet! Are you going to faint? Don’t--don’t cry, my dear!”
“I am not crying!” Patricia wiped two large tears from her cheeks. “What did she do? She tried to kill herself. If it had not been for you, I should have been a murderess!”
“Patricia, don’t say such dreadful things! And what have I to do with it?”
“You kept me from going to sleep!” said Patricia curtly. “You little thing--” Patricia laid her hands on Honor’s shoulders, and held her at arm’s length a moment. “You little thing!” she repeated. “You have saved me, as well as Maria!”
“Oh, Patricia!” faltered Honor, her own eyes bright with tears. “What was it? was it poison?”
“Charcoal! The poor creature must have taken some from Margoton’s brazier. Mercifully she didn’t know enough to stop up the keyhole between her room and mine. I smelt it, and then I saw a thin blue thread come creeping through the keyhole; and then--all in a minute I knew! Hark! the Sister calls us. Honor, I can’t talk about it, but I never shall forget this night!”
Honor was almost awe-stricken as Patricia pressed a warm kiss on her cheek; Patricia, who never kissed any one. She returned the caress shyly, but tenderly, and hand in hand the two entered Maria’s room.
Soeur Séraphine’s lovely face was more nearly stern than they had ever seen it. She was sitting on the bed, Maria’s hand in hers. She addressed the two girls gravely.