Paula the Waldensian - Eva Lecomte

fears that filled my heart, I was a model of good conduct.
Paula had quickly learned to make herself useful. She lacked experience
in a house like ours, but her willingness and cheerfulness more than made up
for the clumsiness of her hands as she would say to Teresa, "Let me do that,
dear Teresa; you are so tired, and you have so much work now." Teresa,
accustomed as she was to perform everything herself, hesitated a little at
first; but Paula would look at her in such a beseeching way that she generally
yielded to her.
From the time that Catalina fell ill, Rosa had to make all the purchases
in town, and this was not a small thing, for the distance from the old Convent
to the city was considerable. At times Paula was allowed to go with her.
"Why don't you let me go alone to the city?" Paula said to her. "If you did
not have to go out, you could help Teresa so much more in caring for
Catalina."
"That's true; but you couldn't go alone to the city. You'd get lost!"
"No, no, never fear such a thing. Let me go, and I'll have not a bit of
trouble finding my way back." And Rosa, like Teresa, at last yielded to her
pleading.
"How is Catalina now?" was my first question on returning from school.
"Always the same," Paula would say.
"Do you think, Paula, she'll ever get well?"
"That I don't know, Lisita. But I believe she will. Teresa prays for her,
and so do I. God is able to heal all the sick people. You know that; don't you,
Lisita?"
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