the deep tones of the old lady's voice seemed to search my very heart. We
always enjoyed listening to this old saint who, like Enoch and Noah, walked
with God. We seemed to be drawn closer to God in her humble little cottage
than in any other place.
"You see," she continued, "I'm old and quite feeble, and besides I'm poor,
and can't do very much for other folks; but there's one thing I can do, and
that is, pray. And I do pray for everybody--and especially for you and your
family, my dear young friends. God doesn't let me see many results of my
prayers, but that doesn't discourage me. I just keep everlastingly at it,
and I can leave the results to Him. Has He not said, through the mouth of
His Apostle John, 'This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we
ask anything according to His will, He heareth us, and if we know that He
hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we
desired of Him.'
"I remember once hearing a certain hymn about prayer. I never could
remember all the verses, but most of it has remained deeply engraved in my
memory although I only heard it once. It was sung by a young missionary
from Africa who happened to be passing through Paris. It was at a meeting
which I attended as a young girl many years ago."
"Please sing it to us, dear Celestina," said Paula, "even though you may
not remember it all."
"Well, my dear young friends," said Celestina, "that old hymn has been my
comfort and the inspiration of my prayers through all the years since I
heard it sung so long ago in Paris where I lived when I was young. Here it
is"; and as those quavering notes sounded we seemed lifted toward that
heavenly Throne of which she sang.
On heavenly heights an Angel stands.
He takes our prayer in heavenly hands,
And with celestial incense rare,
He mingles every heart-felt prayer
Of those who trust His precious blood
To reconcile their souls to God.
"Then from that glorious, heavenly place
Descend the lightnings of His grace;
To heal, to strengthen, and provide,
For those who trust in Him Who died.
'Who died,' I say?--Yea, He Who rose
Triumphant, Conqueror of His foes!
"Who is this priestly Angel bright,
Who thus dispels our darkest night?
'Tis He who sets the captive free,
Jesus Who died on Calvary's tree;
Who is, Who was, and is to come--
The glory of His Father's Home!
"Well," said Paula softly as the last note died away, "I've prayed much for
my dear uncle that he might be saved."
"And God will hear and answer you, my dear, according to the scripture I've
just quoted. Let me tell you something. Your uncle came here to see me a
few days ago, and I believe he is not far from the Kingdom of God!"
"Oh," cried Paula, "I would give everything to see him truly saved!"
* * * * *
Never had I seen Paula so happy as when we entered the little old
evangelical church in the Rue San Eloi.
We had had the natural timidity of new-comers, and had feared more than
anything else that battery of eyes which would surely be turned on us at
our entrance. It was therefore a great relief to find that the meeting had
already begun, and an empty pew well toward the back that held us all,
seemed to beckon to us with a sort of mute welcome.
Hardly were we seated when I noticed Paula (who had of course been
accustomed to church-going at her old home in the valley) had kneeled, and
with her eyes closed seemed to be offering a prayer. This was soon ended
and she resumed her seat. It was all so new to me that I could not at first
take in much of the details of the service.
The preacher had a fine noble face which seemed to light up especially as
the hymns were heartily sung by the whole congregation.
Perhaps it was my imagination, but it seemed to me that a quiet smile of
approval passed over his face as his eyes rested on Paula who so fervently
joined in the songs--all of which seemed quite familiar to her.
It was an affecting thing, that vision of my girl companion. In her white
dress with its blue sash at the waist, and with her wide white straw hat,
she made a lovely picture. In that frank open countenance I think I read
her thoughts. Here in God's house she had entered once more the Promised
Land from which she had been exiled for four long years!
Suddenly the sun came from behind a cloud, especially designed, I thought,
to send a ray of rose-colored light through one of the stained-glass
windows of the church over that beautiful face at my side which now showed
only rapt attention to the simple gospel message saturated with God's Word
that flowed like a mighty river from the preacher's lips.
As we came through the door on our way out, I caught a glimpse of my
father's tall form just disappearing around a bend in the Rue San Eloi. I
think he must have stolen up to the door and had been listening outside!
CHAPTER SEVEN
IN HIS PRESENCE
At times I have wished to efface from my mind the memory of those last
moments that Paula was with us. Yet as I think of the dwelling to which she
has gone, and also the manner in which she went--in the path of duty--to
the House of Glory, as a good soldier of the Cross, I bless God and kneel
in gratitude to Him for having loaned her to us for those four precious
years when He used her to bring us all to the bleeding side of the Saviour,
and thus make us new creatures in Christ Jesus.
* * * * *
It was on the Wednesday after that Sunday when we had first attended
church. It had been a day of terrible heat. The oppressive atmosphere
seemed to promise an electric storm. Louis who had forgotten a study book
when he went to school on Monday, had returned to get it. Paula had tried
to study, but I could see she was having great difficulty.
Suddenly Teresa appeared and called Paula to take a letter which my father
wished to send to a man who lived in the Rue Fourmi.
"Go quickly, Paula, there's a storm brewing, but I think you can easily get
back before it breaks. The Rue Fourmi is not far away."
Paula had no time to answer before Teresa disappeared again to the other
end of the house.
Paula turned to Louis, who was about to start out for his uncle's house,
where he stayed during the week in order to be near his school.
"Louis dear," she said, "won't you please take this letter on your way back
to your uncle's house?"
"No," said Louis sharply; "I never go that way."
"No, I know that; but it would only be a few steps out of your way to leave
it there, and--well--you see--I have quite a headache."
"Teresa told you to take the letter, not me. A fig for your headache! It's
only that you're too lazy to stir!" said Louis.
"Louis!" I shouted, "You ought to be ashamed of yourself! You know well
enough Paula's always willing to do anything for anybody! I'd go myself,
but I simply can't leave what I'm doing now. If Teresa had remembered, she
would have given you the letter and you know it! If you don't take it, I'll
tell father!"
"Do as you please," said Louis coolly. "I'll not be bothered with it!"
I was furious and couldn't keep back the angry tears that now began to roll
down my cheeks.
"Never mind, Lisita," said Paula, as she ran for her hat. Then as she went
through the door she turned for a last look at Louis, "Won't you please
take it, Louis?" she said.
"No!" said Louis--"and that's that!" and he turned his back to Paula.
"Good-bye, Louis dear!" she finally said without the least show of anger,
as she left the house. "We'll be seeing you again on Saturday."
She ran down the street quickly in order to return before the gathering
storm broke.
Louis followed shortly to return to his uncle's, whistling cheerfully as he
went; but his cheerfulness seemed to me to be a little too exaggerated to
be real.
After I'd finished my task I sought out Teresa at the other end of the
great house.
"Paula has a bad headache," I said.
"Why didn't she tell me that?" said Teresa. "I'd have sent Louis, but I
didn't think of it at the time"
I opened my mouth to say something, and then I shut it again. I had begun
slowly to learn from Paula's example not to be a "tattle-tale."
Meanwhile the sky grew darker. Suddenly Teresa said,
"I don't know what's keeping Paula, Here, Lisita! Take this umbrella and go
and meet her. I'm afraid she'll be caught in the rain before she gets
back."
I soon found her as she turned in at the bottom of the Rue Darnetal. "We
must hurry," she said as the thunder began to mutter in the distance.
Hardly had she spoken when a flash of lightning almost blinded us. This was
followed almost immediately by a great crash of thunder that seemed to
shake the very ground under our feet. Then came a sound of confused shouts
as if something had happened at the other end of a cross street that we
were passing. Could it be a house had been struck by the lightning? No, the
shouts increased and changed to cries of terror. Soon we guessed the cause,
as we heard a rushing sound of galloping horses, which, frightened by the
flash and the clap of thunder, came in sight around a bend in the street
enveloped in a cloud of dust, dragging a heavy wagon behind them.
Instinctively Paula retreated to a protecting doorway and I huddled in
terror close beside her.
"Lisita!" she called suddenly. "Look! look!" What I saw was something that
seemed to freeze my blood! Directly in the pathway of the onrushing horses,
totally unconscious of his danger, was a little boy of about three years
old toddling along in the middle of the road. One instant more and it would
have been all over! Suddenly Paula left our shelter like a shot from a gun.
Then I heard a sharp cry that rent the air like a knife, and then--I can
remember little more--just a confusion of people running hither and
thither, and then for me all was darkness, but in that darkness I seemed to
hear still that piercing cry of anguish.
* * * * *
When I came back to consciousness I found myself on the sofa in our
dining-room, with Catalina bathing my face and hands with cold water.
"Where's Paula?" I cried, for I remembered at once that terrible scene in
the Rue Darnetal.
"Paula is in her room," said Catalina, turning her head to hide the tears
that would come in spite of all her efforts.
I tried to rise and go to our room.
"Stay where you are, Lisita!" said Catalina. "You may go a bit later when
you're feeling stronger."
But now a terrible suspicion crossed my mind. "Catalina," I cried, almost
beside myself with fear, "tell me the truth! Is Paula dead?"
"No, Lisita; Paula's not dead," as she tried in vain to detain me; "She is
still breathing--and"--but I heard nothing more. My legs trembled strangely
as I stumbled toward our bedroom. Once there, again that terrible darkness
started to come over me, but it was only a momentary weakness. With an
effort I steadied myself as I came near the bed where my dearest one lay so
still--that lovely face so white, the lips slightly parted with just a
faint stirring of the breath.
The room was full of people, some weeping silently, some trying to choke
back their sobs. Others, like my father and Dr. Lebon, with an agony
showing on their faces much more terrible than any tears.
All this I saw as in a horrible dream from which I hoped to awake at any
moment. But, no!--I soon realized it was all too true. This was the first
real grief of my life, and I had to sustain it alone for I had not yet
yielded to Him who sends comfort to His children in their time of anguish.
He did take pity on me, however. In the next room I hid my grief in
Teresa's arms--Teresa, who more than anyone else, knew the love that had
united me to Paula.
"Oh, Teresa," I cried, when I found myself alone with her, "she must not
die! She must not! I simply cannot live without her, you know that! Oh,
pray for _me_, dear Teresa. God will hear your prayer. He probably wouldn't
hear mine. Tell Him! Oh, please tell Him, Paula must not die!"
"No, Lisita," Teresa said as she dried my tears; "We must leave Paula in
God's hands. He loves her more than you and I could ever do. If you could
see that poor broken body as I've seen it you would not ask that she should
live! Yes, indeed, she was happy with us. She was to us all like an angelic
messenger sent from God to draw us to Him and to show us the way to heaven.
And now He's called her to Himself almost without suffering, for she
appears to have become insensible from the instant that the horses struck
her down. Listen to me, Lisita! Soon Paula will be in heaven at her
Saviour's side--her Saviour whom she loved so well; and in her dear
father's company of whom she spoke so often.
"We must think of her happiness, dear Lisita, not our own, from this day
forward. Paula, you remember, never thought of herself. Her thought was
always for others, and it was for another that she died. She gave her life
to save that little boy. So she followed in the footsteps of her Saviour,
as a good soldier of the Lord Jesus who died to save all who repent and
believe on His blessed name."
The voice of our old servant, so tender, so motherly, seemed to heal my
sorrow. When I became calmer she told me some of the details of the
tragedy. Paula had, dashed in front of the horses just in time to throw the
child out of danger but had been unable to escape herself. That much I
understood; but from that day to this, I have never been able to bring
myself to ask for any more details. It seems I had fainted, and they
carried us both home.
Poor Teresa, I knew how ardently she, too, loved our Paula, but courageous
and unselfish her only thought, as ever, was for us. In consoling me she
forgot her own sorrow. As I looked at that strong calm face lighted up as
from an inner brilliance, it seemed to take on a striking likeness to the
dear one whose life was ebbing away in the next room. There came to my mind
a verse from a Bible story that Paula had told us once. It was this:
"The spirit of Elijah hath fallen on Elisha."
* * * * *
A stream of neighbors came in from everywhere. It was in those last moments
as these humble friends passed before that unconscious form that we came to
comprehend how many lives had been touched by the simple country girl from
the Waldensian mountains. Some remembered her just from the smile with
which she always greeted young and old as she passed up and down the long
street at our end of the town. Others spoke of the loving adoration of the
children whom she had protected and defended. Still others mentioned the
kindness she had shown them, and poured out many stories of Paula's
universal love for all--of her visits to the poor and sick, and of how she
had pointed them to the Saviour who had died to take away their sin;
bringing joy and hope and liberty into many a home where only discord and
misery had reigned before.
So the tears of many of our humble, friendless neighbors mingled with our
own as we waited for the end.
But there was one on whom the blow fell more terribly than on any one of
the rest of us, for it was a bitter mixture of remorse and shame that Louis
had to bear. When he arrived at the house after being summoned from our
uncle's place, and came to a full realization of what had happened, for an
instant he seemed turned to stone. Then a sharp cry came from him. In that
short moment he seemed to change from a careless, selfish boy to a man--a
man awakened at last to his terrible need of a change and with a
transforming purpose in his life from that day forward.
Louis demanded that I tell everybody present what had happened that
afternoon. When I refused, he poured out the whole sorry, sordid story of
his selfishness without one word of excuse, saying as he finished, "So you
see, it was I who killed her, for there was no need of her stirring from
the house." Then he turned to my father imploring him to punish him
severely. He said he could ask no pardon, for he had done what he
considered unpardonable. For answer my father took him in his arms; and I
knew that at that moment my father and Louis came to understand each other
better than they had ever done in their lives before.
"No, my poor boy," my father said; "you need no further punishment. Now go
to your heavenly Father and ask Him to make you His child." And I know that
Louis did so.
* * * * *
In silence we waited. Paula was the bond of love that had united us all;
not only to one another but now also to God. How wonderful, how beautiful,
had been that short life, and how she had poured out her love upon us.
Again the scene came back to me of that moonlight night at this same
bedside, when at prayer she had seemed more like an angel talking with the
One who had sent her to us, than merely the simple, honest-hearted country
girl that she really was.
Suddenly the door opened slowly and a woman poorly dressed entered, leading
a little boy of about three years old. When he saw us he stopped and turned
to hide behind the folds of his mother's dress.
"Come in, come in," said Teresa kindly, as she led them both to the side of
my dear one lying there so white and still.
"Oh, Carlito," exclaimed the poor woman turning to her little son as she
dropped upon her knees beside the bed. "How I wish you could understand!
This is that lovely one who saved your life! She took your place there
under the horses' hoofs!" Then taking Paula's two hands in her own she
said, "Oh, Mademoiselle, oh, that you might hear me! Would that I might do
something in return for what you have done for my boy! Oh, is there nothing
I can do?"
"Yes, my dear woman," said our old servant--and her eyes were
streaming--"I'll tell you what you can do. Nothing would have pleased Paula
better than to have known that you had taken the Lord Jesus as your
Saviour. Also you may take this dear child and dedicate and train him for
God's service in the days to come."
"That," said the poor woman, "I solemnly promise to do if you will show me
how."
Thus it was that our Teresa had the joy of pointing her first soul to the
Saviour.
Tenderly my father cut off two locks of that beautiful hair of our dear
one, and as the woman went out he said. "Take this one and keep it always
in remembrance of the rescuer of your little boy; and this other one," and
he held out the second to her also, "keep it for him until he's old enough
to understand."
Taking them from my father's hand she silently kissed them and placed them
in the bosom of her dress as she and her little one glided through the
outer door.
Louis had gone out on a special errand, and he soon returned, bringing with
him from the factory the object of his search. The poor Breton, followed by
his sons and all the other "scholars" of the night-school, started to enter
the room and then stopped abashed at the threshold. At the invitation of my
father however, one by one they all came to the bedside, pale and shaken
with emotion.
"I'm glad you were able to get here before the end came," said my father.
"Oh, if you could only know how she loved you all!"
The Breton suddenly broke down and cried like a child. When he could
control himself he said, "It was but this very morning that I passed her on
the street. She seemed just like a happy bird as she waved me 'good
day,'--and now--now--to find her dying here!"
"May the dear Lord's will be done!" said Teresa.
The poor Breton had buried his face in his hands, but suddenly looking up,
he said humbly,
"You're quite right, Mademoiselle Teresa--but, you see, Mademoiselle Paula
was more to me than it seems she could mean to any one of you. I was a
drunkard and a robber--a monster of iniquity! I was despised and hated and
feared by everybody, and for good reason. But there in Celestina's kitchen
that day, Mademoiselle was not afraid to take these rough hands--these
hands that had been so often stained with crime and violence in her own
pure white ones to tell me she would help me! She it was who taught me to
pray. She it was who had prayed for me while I was in prison. I have seen
men ground to pieces in the gears of a machine in the factory. I've looked
on death in many terrible forms without shedding a tear--but this one!--oh,
Mademoiselle Paula! Would that I could have died in your place!" And again
quivering with emotion, the Breton turned and leaned against the wall to
hide his tears.
Suddenly a convulsion shook the form of my dear one and Dr. Lebon stepped
forward and took her hand. "The end is coming," he said.
My father dropped on his knees beside the bed. "Oh, Lord," he said, "I,
too, would be Thine own. Is it too late for me?"
At that moment a hand was laid on his shoulder. It was the same hand that
years ago had been laid on his wife's eyes to close them for the last time.
That same hand had tended and cared faithfully for his children ever since.
"Monsieur! My good Master!" said Teresa, in a tone of tender love and
respect such as I had never heard her use before, "It is not too late! He
has said, 'Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out.'"
My father looked up. "Well, then, Teresa--I come to Him."
The dear old woman dropped on her knees and with folded hands simply said,
"Thanks, dear Lord, for Thou hast answered my prayer, and Paula's too!"
* * * * *
The storm of wind and rain had passed. In the little gardens of the "Red
Cottages" across the street, the flowers once again began to raise their
heads and the birds began to sing as the sun came out once more.
Suddenly there came a soft sigh from the still form on the bed. Dr. Lebon
nodded as he turned away. His task was ended. The Good Shepherd had taken
His tired lamb in His arms.
* * * * *
Then the sound of a deep voice was heard, saying,
"Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone, but
if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."