THE FRAULEIN.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXV, Issue 32, 17 December 1897, Page 23

THE FR AUL EIN.

(By Dawn Grave, in the Air Maria.)

IV. — SAVED FROM THE WRECK. " Ruined, ruined !" The Fraulein comprehended all : she was in the presence of one of those painful pictures of earthly instability — those sudden reverses of fortune so frequent in America : to-day a palace and luxury, to-morrow poverty and an attic. Helpless child ! ruined father ! Surely there was something she could do. After prayer the way was plain. A small room, simply furnished ; two little white beds side by side, a pityinsr-eyed Madonna hanging between them ; the window full of growing flowers ; and perhaps a canary singing in the sunshine above Margaret's wheel-chair. Some kind friend — Mrs. Eaton's face rose before her — some kind friend would fiudjht r day-pupils in German, music, or drawing ; and maybe translating, to fill every other moment at home. So Margaret might have everything she needed. Patient, suffering Margaret ! how dearly loved ! she realised at the thought of prospective separation — the one thing in the cold-hearted foreign land that had been •warm and sweet ; the child who leaned upon her. and called her by tender names. " Papa, you must not grieve this way ; you'll break my heart." And as she spoke Margaret touched the bell on the table beside her. " Did you ring for me, dear ?" Lifting his eyes. Mr. Marvin saw a fair-haired girl coming toward them. " This is my Fraulein — my darling Fraulein, papa," said Margaret. " Tell her all the trouble, and she'll help you bear it. Fraulein, make papa not mind so much. He's lost all his money." " I am a ruined man, Miss — a bankrupt," said Marvin, in his straightforward way, rising and extending his hand. " Margaret's told me of your kindness to her, and I thank you ; and hope there's no salary owing you, Miss. My wife has been very extravagant ; the building of this new house and its grand furnishings was beyond my means ; it has left me not a dollar of my own. The blow will fall heavy on her ; but she has her wealthy relatives to go to, with the other children, till something can be pulled together. It's my poor helpless one here that — " he hesitated. And then the Fraulein spoke, her English as broken as her voice. Yet helpless Margaret's ruined father understood. The poor German governess, one hour before in name and person a stranger to him, was asking the privilege of caring for this invalid child until the good God should send him back his wealth again ; of living for her and loving her, and rearing her in the dear dead mother's faith. " It's Margaret's mother that's speaking to me through yon," he interrupted, " reminding me of my broken promise to rear the child as a Catholic. She was baptised by a priest, and there it ended. I went back to my hard life in the West, delving for gold ; but while Margaret's mother lived I kept my faith in God and man. She was the truest, tenderest friend ; a helpmate very different from — but there are sins and sorrows that must be borne, and repented of in silence. Something from the wreck may be saved in the end," he added — '' enough to make up to you the money part, Miss ; but all the rest — the care and the love — " •' Now, papa dear," exclaimed Margaret, who till then had lain passive in the Fraulein's arms, " Fraulein and I don't care for anything in the world so long a*; we keep etch other, and you, pap.i 1 It's only them that wo need to bo sorry for ; and there they are now ; I heard the carriage stop." V. — A meetixp,. " Sure, ma'am, and it's the sorrowfying news that I have to tell you, with all the strange things that have happened since you've been away," said Xorah, welcoming Mrs. Eaton home. *' What has happened, Norah .' Come, tell me please."' " The Blessed Mother be praised ! No harm to us," replied Norah. " It's a reflected trouble from the great house opposite —the Marvins, ma'am. It'll be 10 days come Friday since Mr. Marvin came home from the West, a ruined man entirely, with not a dollar of his own that didn't belong to the butcher aiid the baker. And the housekeeper was telling me how he makes the butler call up all the other servants in the great hall, and says he to them : ' I'm astonished at the army of you that there are, and it's sorry I am for the wages that's owing you ; but every cent of it shall be paid tc you.' For it's the fine, honest man that Mr. Marvin is ; and not the mock gentleman that his wife tried to be, going off from one screaming fit into another when she hears of the trouble ; and never a bit of help or comfort in her or her children for the poor stricken husband and father. Audit's empty that it is now. the great house with ' For sale 'on it ; all the grand furniture carted off, and every. body scattered." " And the German governess, in whom I am deeply interested?' asked Mrs. Eaton, anxiously. '• What became of her .' If I had onlj been home ! " " That's just what I said," responded Norah. "'when Tom tells me how she was here to see you, with such trouble on her face thai night. 'If I had answered the door,' says I, 'I'd have told her " The mistress is away on a visit to her brother in New York ; bu there'll come a happy day soon when she'll be home again. Won' you be calling again then, or leaving your address now?"' Bu yoiV know how Tom is, ma'am. He never thought of thinking wnat to do — never in the world. He just said that you had gone t< New York and he didn't know when you'd be back." " Poor Fraulein," exclaimed Mrs. Eaton. " Without home o friends ! I could have procured her another position. Where shal I find her ? " " We'll tell St. Anthony about it," answered Norah, hopefully " And, meantime, we'll rest quiet in believing that she's safe Iron

all harm. For it was in the carriage with Mr. Marvin that she drove away that morning ; and there was the little sick girl between them, ma'am, looking white, and beautiful and happy as an angel." * # * * The next and many Sundays thereafter Mrs. Eaton looked vainly for the Fraulein at St. Matthew's ; but if she had not left the city, there was always a prospect of meeting her somewhere ; and one afternoon there she was, coming out of a florist's in F. street with a. pot of marguerites. "So glad to find you," said Mrs. Eaton, hastening forward, " after seeking you everywhere. When I heard that you called to see me before you moved, I feared that, being absent, I had missed some opportunity of serving you." "I, too, have longed so often to see you ! " replied the Fraulein, flushing with pleasure. " I think that night, when I find you away, I must despair ; but, ah, Madame ! God is ho good, so ever watchful of His poor creatures ! I turn from your door so sad I scarce see before me for the darkness in my heart ; for such sudden trouble has fallen upon the great house, and I know not what will become of us. I walk on ; I meet a gray-haired priest. He looked hard at me in passing, and then he turn back, saying soft beside me : 'My child, something tell me you are in distress. Can I help you ? I know you are a Catholic ; for I have seen you at the church.' And it was good Father Connelly of St. Paul's. I have told him all how it was ; and he finds me a lovely room with one of hia parish, and sends me kind ladies there, and they find me pupils to teach ; and it is all well now, Madame. Oh, we are so thankful, we are so happy ! " " Have you place for any more pupils ? " asked Mrs. Eaton, quickly. " Plenty ! That's pleasant news, because my little Effie and several of her playmates want to take German lessons this winter. Come to-morrow and arrange the hours, so we may begin at once." * * * * * " Well, this is delightful ! " exclaimed Father Connelly. " I called to ask you for the aid you have already given. And so you know the Fraulein, Mrs. Eaton ? Her devotion to that child is — " " What child ? " " The little invalid," he replied, " poor Margaret Marvin." Then he added quickly : "If she never told you, or possibly anyone else, perhaps I was wrong to betray her ; but there is something so beautiful in her — " " Don't Father ! you need not say another word," said Mrs. Eaton. "I see, I understand it all; and it in beautiful. That is why she so often uses the ' we.' It is that other life for which she lives her own — that poor invalid child for whom she works and suffers in secret. O Father, is there anything that I can do for them through you 1 If so, please tell me at once." " We might make them a ' Happy Christmas,' " said the priest, smiling — " a very happy Christmas." That same evening a widow, living in another part of the city raised her grateful eyes to the priest's kind face. •' This is a true thanksgiving day for me," she said, " and you are to thanked for it. No, Father Connolly, it's not merely the money for the room that I tried so long to rent ; but you must have noticed the change in my Harold, since he's seen how patient Margaret is with her pain that's so like his. He hardly ever frets about his lameness now; and her sympathy has drawn him away from himself and made a little man of him, strong enough to carry his cross." •• Yes," answered the gentle pastor, impressively. '• There's nothing in the world so salutary tor the young or the old as good example."' (To be continued.)