"
I could not refrain from smiling, but I was greatly discouraged. How
could I wait until evening for the desired interview?
"If you is kin to de sister," said the woman,--"an' I reckon you is, for
I see de likeness powerful strong,--she'll be mighty glad to see ye,
sah. Want me ter tell her ye'll come back this evening, if you doan'
fin' her before dat?"
I desired her to give such a message, and went away well pleased that
the woman had not asked my name. It was desirable that Mother Anastasia
should not know who was coming to call on her.
I am, as I have said before, much given to the consideration of motives
and all that sort of thing, and, in the course of the day, I found
myself wondering why I should have taken the trouble to walk through the
Patent Office and half a dozen other public buildings, continually
looking about me, not at the objects of interest therein, but at the
visitors; that is, if they were ladies. Why this uneasy desire to find
the Mother Superior, when, by quietly waiting until evening, I was
almost certain to see her? But in the midst of my self-questionings I
went on looking for Mother Anastasia.
I finished my long ramble by a visit to the gallery of the House of
Representatives.
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