hat he guessed, but because Spener sat there with a face so--so
inexplicable. Loretz could not make out its meaning when just now he
glanced that way; and the face was full of meaning. What was passing in
his mind?

"Let me tell the story, Mr. Loretz. I want you to know it. It will not
take long. May I not go on?"

"Go on, sir, by all means!" exclaimed Spener. "Say what you have to say,
and--" His voice sunk: he did not finish the sentence, audibly at least.

But Wenck still waited until Mrs. Loretz said, "Husband, surely you
would like to know about dear Sister Benigna?"

"Well," said Loretz, reluctant still because of his misgivings, "go on.
It will be a comfort to you, I dare say, Mr. Wenck, to talk about her
here."

"It is my duty, sir, to talk about her here, and my privilege. We were
both toiling in our way to reach the time when our love for each other
might be spoken and shown to be something short of unreasonable. When
that time did come we were led to ascertain whether our union would be
in accordance with the Divine will, in the manner of our fathers, which
had been adhered to for generations in the village where we lived. We
found that, according to the lot, our lives must be lived apart. It did
not appear to me then that we did right to give each other up. But I did
not attempt to persuade her--or--to assure myself that I had not made a
mistake when I loved her."

"I believe that," was the comment on this statement which appeared on
the scornful face of Spener.

"But I have often asked myself whether I should not have performed my
duty in a better way, a more enlightened way, if I had tried to persuade
Benigna to a step which has been taken by many of the most devout,
God-fearing brethren."

"What! what!" exclaimed Loretz, aghast. This was the very thing he had
feared from some quarter, and now he heard it whence he had least
expected it to come.

"I told you before you resorted to the lot--and my inmost hope was that
you would act upon it--that the lot is not now considered among the
brethren essential in the decision of questions of this kind. Surely you
have not forgotten."

"You mentioned it," said Spener reluctantly, in most ungenerous
acknowledgment. "I recollect wishing that you would make a point of it."

"It was impossible," replied the minister. "But now I can speak. If I
understand you, my friends, there is none of you that feels ready to
resign his own will in this matter. In your