, the young Protestant
pastor of Dringenstadt was seated in a room of the small house which
went by the name of "Das Pfarrhaus."

He was meditating more than studying just then. He felt his work there
an uphill one. Almost all the people in that little town were Roman
Catholics. His own flock was a little one indeed, and only that morning
he had received a letter telling him that it had been settled that no
regular ministry would be continued there, as funds were not
forthcoming, and the need in one sense seemed small. He had come there
only a few months before, knowing well that he might only be allowed to
remain a short time; but now that the order for his removal elsewhere
had come, he felt discouraged and sad. Was it right, he was asking
himself, to withdraw the true gospel light from the people, and to leave
the few, no doubt very few, who loved it to themselves? Karl Langen was
a true Christian, longing to lead souls to Jesus, and was much perplexed
by the order he had received. Suddenly a knock at the door roused him,
and the woman who took charge of his house on entering told him that a
man from the Forest wished to speak to him. Telling her to send him in
at once, he awaited his entry.

Johann Schmidt was shown into the room, and told his sorrowful tale in a
quiet, manly way.

The pastor was much moved, and repeated with amazement the words, "A
child lost in the Black Forest, and the father dead, you say? Certainly
I will come and see. But why, my friend, should you think the man was an
Evangelisch?" Then Johann told of the words he had repeated, of the
child's prayer and her little brown book.

Suddenly a light seemed to dawn on the mind of the young pastor. "Oh!"
he said, "I believe you are right. I think I have seen both the father
and the child. Last Sunday there came into our church a gentleman and a
lovely little girl, just such a one as you describe the child you speak
of to be. I tried to speak to them after worship, but ere I could do so
they had gone. And no one could tell me who they were or whither they
had gone. I will now see the Buergermeister about the funeral, and make
arrangements regarding it. I think through some friends of mine I can
get money sufficient to pay all expenses."

Johann thanked him warmly, and hastened back to tell what had been
agreed on, and then got off to his work.

Late in the afternoon Pastor Langen took his way to the little hut in
the Black Forest.

The Forest