u have just related is but a
manifestation of the law of love by which she lives. She gave,
unasked, and with no desire to be seen and advertised. It returned to
her ten-fold. It is always so with her. There was no chance, no
miracle, no luck about it. She herself did nothing. It was--it
was--only the working of her beloved Christ-principle. Oh, Lewis! if
we only knew--"

"We _shall_ know, Madam!" declared the man vehemently. "Her secret is
but the secret of Jesus himself, which was open to a world too dull to
comprehend. Carmen shall teach us. And," his eyes brightening, "to
that end I have been formulating a great plan. That's why I've asked
Hitt to come here to-night. I have a scheme to propose. Remember, my
dear friend, we are true searchers; and 'all things work together for
good to them that love God.' Our love of truth and real good is so
great that, like the consuming desire of the Jewish nation, it is
_bound_ to bring the Christ!"

* * * * *

For three months the Beaubien and Carmen had dwelt together in this
lowly environment; and here they had found peace, the first that the
tired woman had known since childhood. The sudden culmination of those
mental forces which had ejected Carmen from society, crushed Ketchim
and a score of others, and brought the deluded Mrs. Hawley-Crowles to
a bitter end, had left the Beaubien with dulled sensibilities. Even
Ames himself had been shocked into momentary abandonment of his
relentless pursuit of humanity by the unanticipated _denouement_. But
when he had sufficiently digested the newspaper accounts wherein were
set forth in unsparing detail the base rumors of the girl's parentage
and of her removal from a brothel before her sudden elevation to
social heights, he rose in terrible wrath and prepared to hunt down to
the death the perpetrators of the foul calumny. Whence had come this
tale, which even the girl could not refute? From Lafelle? He had
sailed for Europe--though but a day before. Ketchim? The man was
cringing like a craven murderer in his cell, for none dared give him
bail. Reed? Harris? Was it revenge for his own sharp move in regard to
La Libertad? He would have given all he possessed to lay his heavy
hands upon the guilty ones! The editors of the great newspapers,
perhaps? Ames raged like a wounded lion in the office of every editor
in the city. But they were perfectly safe, for the girl, although she
told a straight