9. Melchisedec
The third person irio was Lottie. She was a small thing and did not know what adversity meant, and was much bewildered by the alteration she saw in her young adopted mother. She had heard it rumored that strahings had happeo Sara, but she could not uand why she looked different--why she wore an old black frod came into the schoolroom only to teastead of to sit in her place of honor and learn lessons herself. There had been much whispering among the little ones when it had been discovered that Sara no longer lived in the rooms in which Emily had so long sat in state. Lotties chief difficulty was that Sara said so little when one asked her questions. At seven mysteries must be made very clear if one is to uand them.
"Are you very poor now, Sara?" she had asked fidentially the first m her friend took charge of the small French class. "Are you as poor as a beggar?" She thrust a fat hand into the slim one and opened round, tearful eyes. "I dont want you to be as poor as a beggar."
She looked as if she was going to cry. And Sara hurriedly soled her.
"Beggars have o live," she said ceously. "I have a place to live in."
"Where do you live?" persisted Lottle. "The new girl sleeps in your room, and it isnt pretty any more."
"I live in another room," said Sara.
"Is it a nie?" inquired Lottie. "I want to go a."
"You must not talk," said Sara. "Miss Min is looking at us. She will be angry with me for letting you whisper."
She had found out already that she was to be held atable for everything which was objected to. If the children were not attentive, if they talked, if they were restless, it was she who would be reproved.
But Lottie was a determined little person. If Sara would not tell her where she lived, she would find out in some other way. She talked to her small panions and hung about the elder girls and listened when they were gossiping; and ag upoain information they had unsciously let drop, she started late oernoon on a voyage of discovery, climbing stairs she had never known the existence of, until she reached the attic floor. There she found two doors near each other, and opening one, she saw her beloved Sara standing upon an old table and looking out of a window.
"Sara!" she cried, aghast. "Mamma Sara!" She was aghast because the attic was so bare and ugly and seemed so far away from all the world. Her short legs had seemed to have been mounting hundreds of stairs.
Sara turned round at the sound of her voice. It was her turn to be aghast. What would happen now? If Lottie began to cry and any one ced to hear, they were both lost. She jumped down from her table and ran to the child.
"Dont cry and make a noise," she implored. "I shall be scolded if you do, and I have been scolded all day. Its--its not such a bad room, Lottie."
"Isnt it?" gasped Lottie, and as she looked round it she bit her lip. She oiled child yet, but she was fond enough of her adopted parent to make an effort to trol herself for her sake. Then, somehow, it was quite possible that any pla which Sara lived might turn out to be nice. "Why isnt it, Sara?" she almost whispered.
Sara hugged her close and tried to laugh. There was a sort of fort in the warmth of the plump, childish body. She had had a hard day and had been staring out of the windows with hot eyes.
"You see all sorts of things you t see downstairs," she said.
"What sort of things?" demanded L