nus sign, the sign of
nothingness. The world has tried to make it positive, something. From
the false sense of evil as a reality has come the equally false sense
of man's estrangement from God, through some fictitious "fall"--a
curse, truly, upon the human intellect, but not of God's infliction.
For false belief always curses with a reign of discord, which endures
until the belief becomes corrected by truth. From the beginning, the
human race has vainly sought to postulate an equal and opposite to
everything in the realm of both the spiritual and material. It has
been hypnotized, obsessed, blinded, by this false zeal. The resultant
belief in "dualism" has rendered hate the equal and opposite of Love,
evil the equal and opposite of Good, and discord the eternal opponent
of Harmony. To cope with evil as a reality is to render it immortal in
our consciousness. To know its unreality is to master it.

"Throughout life," Jose mused, "every positive has its negative, every
affirmation its denial. But the opposites never mingle. And, moreover,
the positive always dispels the negative, thus proving the specious
nature of the latter. Darkness flees before the light, and ignorance
dissolves in the morning rays of knowledge. Both cannot be real. The
positive alone bears the stamp of immortality. Carmen has but one
fundamental rule: _God is everywhere_. This gives her a sense of
immanent power, with which all things are possible."

Thus with study and meditation the days flowed past, with scarcely a
ripple to break their quiet monotony. Rosendo came, and went again. He
brought back at the end of his first month's labors on the newly
discovered deposit some ninety _pesos_ in gold. He had reached the
bedrock, and the deposit was yielding its maximum; but the yield would
continue for many months, he said. His exultation overleaped all
bounds, and it was with difficulty that Jose could bring him to a
consideration of the problems still confronting them.

"I think, Rosendo," said the priest, "that we will send, say, thirty
_pesos_ this month to Cartagena; the same next month; and then
increase the amount slightly. This method is sure to have a beneficial
effect upon the ecclesiastical authorities there."

"Fine!" ejaculated Rosendo. "And how will you send it, Padre?"

Jose pondered the situation. "We cannot send the gold direct to the
Bishop, for that would excite suspicion. Masses, you know, are not
paid for in gold dust and nugget