The child obeyed unresistingly; but she had scarcely settled to her wax tablets again when Katharina was by her side, whispering to her that Orion would certainly not have asserted anything that he did not believe to be true, and that she had really been in doubt as to whether a gem with a gold back, or a mere gold frame-work, had been hanging to Paula's chain.

At this Mary turned sharply and quickly upon her, looked her straight in the eyes and exclaimed--but in Egyptian that the governess might not understand, for she had disdained to learn a single word of it: "A rubbishy gold frame with a broken edge was hanging to the chain, and, what is more, it caught in your dress.

Why, I can see it now! And, when you bore witness that it was a gem, you told a lie--Look here; here are the laws which God Almighty himself gave on the sacred Mount of Sinai, and there it stands written: 'Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.' And those who do, the priest told me, are guilty of mortal sin, for which there is no forgiveness on earth or in Heaven, unless after bitter repentance and our Saviour's special mercy.

So it is written; and you could actually declare before the judges a thing that was false, and that you knew would bring others to ruin ?" The young criminal looked down in shame and confusion, and answered hesitatingly: "Orion asserted it so positively and clearly, and then--I do not know what came over me--but I was so angry, so--I could have murdered her!" "Whom ?" asked Mary in surprise.

"You know very well: Paula." "Paula!" said Mary, and her large eyes again filled with tears.