nsive, Father Omehr was pleased to learn from Linda
that the knife had not been poisoned. Gilbert's eye brightened at the
intelligence, though he had not given utterance to his fears--_fears_
they were--for even the young and brave recoil in terror from death,
when it assumes a form and hovers near in a detested shape. Having
informed the youth that a messenger had been despatched to his father,
the priest left Gilbert in charge of the sacristan, and proceeded on his
daily errand of mercy through the neighborhood. By men like him,
fervent, fearless, faithful, the rude Northern hordes were induced to
abandon their idolatry, and embrace the faith of the Church of Rome.
These noble missionaries slowly but surely prepared the canvas on which
were afterward laid, in colors of enduring brightness, the features of
Christian civilization.

When Father Omehr returned, Gilbert was asleep. The sacristan put in his
hands a letter from a distinguished prelate, informing him of the
nomination of Henry, canon of Verdun, by Henry IV.

"O God, protect Thy holy Church!" exclaimed the missionary, crushing the
paper in his excitement. "If the ministers of God become the creatures
of the king, despotism and irreligion must inevitably ensue. How long
will virtue be accounted a crime? Shall every faithful shepherd be
supplanted, to make room for the wolf of lay investiture, the instrument
of a lustful tyrant, raised by simony, and upheld by royal favor?"

Gilbert's light slumber had been broken by the voice of his benefactor.
As soon as Father Omehr saw the youth awake, he approached him, and
inquired, with great kindness of manner, whether he felt better.

The youth replied in the affirmative.

"I have discovered," continued the other, "that you have richly deserved
this wound. You killed with your own hand the husband of the woman who
stabbed you, and though the chance thrust of an affray, it was noted,
and communicated to Bertha by an eye-witness, one of the combatants.
This is her revenge--but how inadequate to her suffering!"

"It is, indeed," said Gilbert, replying to the last remark, which had
been particularly emphasized. His companion could not conceal the
satisfaction with which he hailed this reply, as an omen of regret, and
of a right apprehension of his former violence. But the youth was
drowsy, and prudence forbade a longer conversation. At the close of the
evening service, the lady of Stramen was seen to exchange a few wor