"
"And you were not afraid to wander alone, without a light, through the
long, dark corridors, and the lonely, deserted rooms?"
"Chiquita does not know what it is to be afraid--her eyes can see in
the dark, and her feet never stumble. The very owls shut their eyes when
they meet her, and the bats fold their wings when she comes near their
haunts. Wandering ghosts stand aside to let her pass, or turn back when
they see her approaching. Night is her comrade and hides no secrets from
her, and Chiquita never betrays them to the day."
Her eyes flashed and dilated as she spoke, and Isabelle looked at her
with growing wonder, not unmixed with a vague sensation of fear.
"I like much better to stay here, in this heavenly quiet, by the fire
with you," continued the child, "than down there in all the uproar. You
are so beautiful that I love to look at you-you are like the Blessed
Virgin that I have seen shining above the altar. Only from afar though,
for they always chase me out of the churches with the dogs, because I
am so shabby and forlorn. How white your hand is! Mine looks like a
monkey's paw beside it--and your hair is as fine and soft as silk, while
mine is all rough and tangled. Oh! I am so horribly ugly--you must think
so too.
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