devout monk, and the theological difficulties
over which they had triumphed hand in hand.

After taking some slight refreshment (for the baron could ill brook a
refusal of his cheer), Father Omehr left the father and son to each
other, and began to descend the path to the chapel. Herman had gone to
administer the last Sacraments to a distant parishioner. Father Omehr
knelt down in the chapel and awaited his return. It did not seem long
before his brother missionary entered through the sacristy and knelt
beside him. The little chapel was very beautiful, with its branching
pillars, supporting clusters of Angels carved in stone. The images of
the Saints served to awaken many fine emotions--and the principal statue
of Our Lady, which the artist had designed to represent the immaculate
purity of the Mother of God--gave an indescribable sweetness to that
consecrated spot: but more beautiful still, and more acceptable to God,
were the two holy men who, bent with age and grown gray in the service
of a heavenly Master, bowed down together before the altar of the Most
High, and for a time forgot each other in the contemplation of the
majesty and infinite goodness of Him they served.

At length they rose; and when in the open air gave way to the impulse of
human love, which until then had yielded to a loftier feeling.

There was a room in the Castle of Hers in which Herman spent the hours
not required for the active duties of his ministry, and to this the two
friends retired. There for more than an hour, they discussed topics of
mutual interest--compared the condition of their flocks--and wandered
back to Naples and Monte Cassino. The introduction of this last subject
seemed to remind Herman of something he had forgotten; for he started up
and went to a shelf, which was filled with extracts he had been
permitted to make from the celebrated library of the convent, and taking
down a small piece of parchment, gave it to his companion. It was an
illuminated manuscript of the _Salve Regina_.

"It was sent me yesterday across the lake by a Benedictine monk," he
said, when Father Omehr had finished reading and raised his eyes in
wonder and delight.

"And who has written it?"

"A namesake of mine--a Benedictine. It was not seen until after his
death, when the manuscript was discovered in his cell. What is more
remarkable is that the monk was distinguished for nothing but his piety,
and had never made any pretension to learning or ac