"No," answered the house-wife, "she is an orphan; there was a widow in this place who died, leaving the child, and I have taken charge of her; one mouth more will not matter much, and the good God will bless us."
"Ay, ay! to be sure He will; the orphans and fatherless are under His own peculiar care."
"She's a good little thing, and gives no trouble," observed the woman. "You go back to Polomyja tonight, I reckon."
"I do—ah!" exclaimed Swiatek, as the little girl ran up to him. "You like the ring, is it not beautiful? I found it under a big fir to the left of the churchyard,—there may be dozens there. You must turn round three times, bow to the moon, and say, 'Zaboï!' then look among the tree-roots till you find one."
"Come along!" screamed the child to its comrades; "we will go and look for rings."
"You must seek separately," said Swiatek.
The children scampered off into the wood.
"I have done one good thing for you," laughed the beggar, "in ridding you, for a time, of the noise of those children."
"I am glad of a little quiet now and then," said the
