the Jews believe. But I do not know if she
has reached any point further than that. I think she hardly knows what
to believe."

"Only those sermons do good which God preaches," said Bruno. Perhaps he
spoke rather to himself than to Doucebelle. "Whenever the maiden will
speak to thee, do not repulse her. Lead her, to the best of thy power,
to see that Christ is God's one cure for all evil. Yet He must teach it
first to thyself."

"I think He has done so--a little," answered Doucebelle. "But, Father,
will you not speak to her?"

"My child, we will both wait upon God, and speak the words He gives us,
at the time He will. And remember,--whatever blunders men make,--
Belasez is, after the flesh, nearer akin to Him than thou art. She is
the kinswoman of the Lord Jesus. Let that thought spur thee on, if thou
faint by the way."

"Father! Our Lord was not a Jew?"

"He was a Jew, my daughter."

Hardly any news could more have amazed Doucebelle.

"But why then do people use them so harshly?"

"Thou hadst better ask the people," answered Bruno, drily.

"Father, is it right to use Jews so?"

"Thou hadst better ask the Lord."

"What does He say, Father?"

"He said, speaking to Abraham, the father of them all, `I will bless him
that blesseth thee, and curse him that curseth thee.'"

"Oh, I am so glad!" cried Doucebelle. "If you please, Father, I could
not help loving Belasez: but I tried hard not to do so, because I
thought it was wicked. It cannot be wrong to love a Jew, if Christ
Himself were one."

Bruno did not reply immediately. When he did, it was with a slight
quiver in his voice which surprised Doucebelle.

"It can never be wrong to love," he said. "But, daughter, let not thy
love stop at liking the maid's company. Let it go on till thou canst
take it into Heaven."

The strangest of all strange ideas was this to Doucebelle. She had been
taught that love was always a weakness, and only too frequently a sin.
That so purely earthly a thing could be taken into Heaven astonished her
beyond measure.

"Father!" she said, in a tone of mingled amazement and inquiry.

"What now, my daughter?"

"People always speak of love as weak, if not wicked."

"People often talk of what they do not understand, my child. `God is
love.' Think not, therefore, that God resembles a worldly fancy which
springs to-day, and fades away to-morrow. His is the heavenly love
which can never die, which is ready to s