Pagina 449 van 1294

"Tell me, what is your name?... and where do you live?" she said

hurriedly in a breathless voice.

He laid both hands on her shoulders and looked at her with a sort

of rapture. It was such a joy to him to look at her, he could not

have said why.

"Who sent you?"

"Sister Sonia sent me," answered the girl, smiling still more

brightly.

"I knew it was sister Sonia sent you."

"Mamma sent me, too... when sister Sonia was sending me, mamma

came up, too, and said 'Run fast, Polenka.'"

"Do you love sister Sonia?"

"I love her more than anyone," Polenka answered with a peculiar

earnestness, and her smile became graver.

"And will you love me?"

By way of answer he saw the little girl's face approaching him,

her full lips naively held out to kiss him. Suddenly her arms as

thin as sticks held him tightly, her head rested on his shoulder

and the little girl wept softly, pressing her face against him.