Love Dounia your sister, Rodya; love her as she loves you and understand that she loves you beyond everything, more than herself.

She is an angel and you, Rodya, you are everything to us--our one hope, our one consolation.

If only you are happy, we shall be happy.

Do you still say your prayers, Rodya, and believe in the mercy of our Creator and our Redeemer?
I am afraid in my heart that you may have been visited by the new spirit of infidelity that is abroad to-day; If it is so, I pray for you.

Remember, dear boy, how in your childhood, when your father was living, you used to lisp your prayers at my knee, and how happy we all were in those days.