domestic, and there is not a soul in the world except her and myself who know it. Who sent you, then? " " It was a gentleman, Madame; a young gentleman whom I met on the street, who stopped me for this purpose, and I praised God for it, for it is absolutely necessary for me to find a place to-day; I have not a penny in my pocket."
The old lady could not understand who the person was, and was lost in conjecture, when the servant raising her eyes to the furniture of the little parlour, perceived a portrait. "Wait, Madame," she said immediately, "do not puzzle yourself any more; this is the exact picture of the young man who spoke to me. It is on his account that I am come."
At these words the lady uttered a loud cry and seemed to lose consciousness. She made the girl repeat the story of her devotion to the souls in Purgatory, of the morning Mass, and her meeting with the stranger; then throwing herself on the neck of the girl, she embraced her amid a flood of tears and said, "You shall not be my servant from this moment; you are my daughter. It is my son, my only son, whom you saw — my son, dead for the past two years, who owes to you his deliverance, whom God directed to send you here. I cannot doubt it. May you, then, be blessed, and let us pray continually for all those who suffer before entering into a blessed eternity."
