"Maurus," murmured he in a trembling
voice. "St. Bernhard was the Abbot who received my vows, in the sixth
year of the reign of King Conrad, whom they called the Frank."

Incredulous astonishment was depicted on the brothers' countenances.

The monk raised his face to the old Prior and confessed to him how he
had wandered out in the early morning into the cloister-gardens, how
he had fallen asleep in the forest, and had not wakened till the bell
for vespers sounded.

The Prior made a sign to one of the brothers. Then turning to the monk
he said: "It is almost three hundred years since the death of St.
Bernhard and of Conrad, whom they called the Frank."

The cloister annals were brought; and it was there found that three
hundred years had passed since the days of St. Bernhard. The Prior
also read the following note.

"A doubter disappeared one day from the cloister, and no one ever knew
what became of him."

A shudder ran through the monk's limbs. This was he, this brother
Maurus who had now come back to the cloister after three hundred
years! What the Prior had read sounded in his ears as if it were the
trumpet of the Last Judgment. Three hundred years!

With wide-open eyes he gazed before him, then stretched forth his
hands as if seeking for help. The brothers supported him, observing
him at the same time with secret dismay; his face had become ashy
pale, like that of a dying person, the narrow circle of hair on his
head had become snow-white.

"My brothers," murmured he in a dying voice, "value the imperishable
word of the Lord at all times, and never try to fathom what he in His
wisdom has veiled from us. May my example never be blotted out of your
memory. Only to-day the words of the Psalmist were revealed to me. 'A
thousand years are but as a day in Thy sight.' May he have mercy on
me, a poor sinner." He sank lifeless to the ground, and the brothers,
greatly moved, repeated the prayers for the dead over his body.

The Origin of the Seven Mountains

In olden times the Rhine flowed into a deep mighty lake above the town
of Koenigswinter. Those who then lived near the Eifel Mountains or on
the heights of the Westerwald, were in constant fear of these swelling
waters which often overflowed, causing great destruction in the
country. They began to consider that some great saviour was necessary,
and sent a messenger into the country of the Giants, begging some of
them to come down and bore through the