"
She opened the door and passed out swiftly. The listener at the key-hole
barely escaped behind the cabinet--no more.
Mollie, in her rosy silken robes, like a little goddess Aurora, followed
her out, down the stairs, and opened for her the house door.
The first little pink clouds of the coming morn were blushing in the
east, and the rag-women, with their bags and hooks, were already astir.
"When shall I see you again?" Mollie said.
Miriam turned and looked at her, half wonderingly.
"Do you really wish to see me again, Mollie--such a wretched-looking
being as I am?"
"Are you not my aunt?" Mollie cried, passionately. "How do I know there
is another being on this earth in whose veins flow the same blood as
mine? And you--you love me, I think."
"Heaven knows I do, Mollie Dane!"
"Then why wrong me by such a question? Come again, and again; and come
soon. I will be on the watch for you. And now, farewell!"
She held out her little white hand. A moment, and they had parted.
The young girl went slowly back to her room to disrobe and lie down, and
the haggard woman flitted rapidly from street to street, on her way to
the dreary lodgings she called home.
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