“More than this, Harriet,” she continued, a holy purpose shining in her lovely eyes, “I do not want to go at present—I want to stay and help to take care of those who suffer——” “And sacrifice your own precious life,” interposed the woman, with an anxious look. “No—no, Miss Salome, don’t do that—don’t do it; it would break my heart if you should die too, and that’s why I’m so anxious to get away.” “I do not believe I shall have the cholera, Harriet,” Salome returned with grave assurance, “somehow I feel that I shall not, and I shall certainly use every precaution against it. But the people here are wild with fear, and nurses are very scarce. I know that I am a good nurse, it comes naturally to me to care for the sick, and I know that it is my duty to throw myself into this work; some feeling over which I have no control impels me to do so. If you want to go home, I will ask the sisters to use their influence to get you passed through the lines, and you shall go the first opportunity that offers.” “And leave you here?” cried the woman, aghast. “No—no indeed, Miss Salome! I shall never leave you; it was more on your account that I wanted to go. I’ve had the plague, so I’m not afraid of that, now, and maybe I can lend a hand myself in the care of others. At all events, if you stay, I shall stay to look after you.” Later, Salome went to the lady-superior, and informed her that she had resolved to go into one of the hospitals as a nurse. “I am alone, save for the companionship of Harriet, and unprotected in a strange city,” she told her, “and, if I may be allowed to do so, I should like to adopt the dress of your sisterhood and go out under the auspices of your convent. This would shield me from all insult and danger, while if I should be attacked by illness I should feel that I had a place of refuge to fly to.” The mother-superior not only gave her consent to her appeal, but her benediction and blessing upon her holy purpose, and told her that she should go out under the name of “Sister Angela.” But Harriet objected to being left alone in the convent. “The mother is kind and the sisters are good,” she said, “but I shall die if I have to be shut up behind these gloomy walls; besides, Miss Salome, they don’t live as you ought to live. I wish we could have three or four rooms somewhere that I could make comfortable for you; then when you get tired out with your work you could come home to me and I could look after you.” Salome thought favorably of this and hired a tiny house just under the shadow of the convent, which made a cozy home for Harriet and herself. Every day, after her duties were over, she would go there to rest and to be refreshed and cared for by the faithful woman, whose chief aim in life now seemed to be to devote herself to her, although she told her that she “never could believe she was Miss Salome until she took off those ugly bandages and sombre dress and put on her pretty white wrapper.”