herself upon the Mother's
neck and wept.

"The Mother entreated her to let her know the rest, but Manna remained
silent; finally she uttered the words:--

"No, I shall take it with me into the grave; it is mine alone."

The Professorin spoke words of hope and comfort to her, and asked her
whether she had ever mentioned in confession what she now confessed to
her. Manna said no, and then threw herself upon her knees before the
Mother, and besought her to tell no one what she had related of her
father. But she started up suddenly as if bitten by a serpent, when the
Professorin told her that she had known it all a long while, that it
had been a heavy burden to her, but that it was the duty of the
innocent not to withdraw themselves from one who seeks to efface a
wretched past.

A strange agitation swept over Manna's countenance.

"Who else knows it? Tell me."

"Why should I, my child? Why do you so torment your soul, and make it
wander from house to house, from man to man, crushed, begging, and
imploring forgiveness?"

"My prayer, my sacrifice is rejected; I am cast out, we are all cast
out. No, I am free; the holy ones in heaven have not been willing to
accept my sacrifice. It shall live within my own bosom only, within
myself, within my crushed and shattered heart. I am free--free."

"Your laugh makes me feel uneasy," said the Professorin, who was
observing closely the play of Manna's features. Manna moaned that her
sorrow was sevenfold.

"Ah!" she exclaimed, "I have spoken with my brother only once about
slavery, and then I felt as if something was whirling around me, when
he said, Beings who are admitted to religious life are our equals. He
is right; whoever enters the sanctuary of the knowledge of God is a
free child of God; and I shuddered when I thought for the first time
how it could be possible for a man to be praying in church, and have
near by, separated from him only by a railing, men who were slaves. Is
not his every word of prayer, is not his offering, a lie? It was a
frightful pathway upon which I had entered, and all the powers of evil
were pushing me on further and further. How is it then? how can a
priest receive the child of a man, how could he receive us into the
church, while our father still----"

As if a weight lay on her heart. Manna placed her hand there, and
seemed unable to go on.

The Professorin consoled her.

"My child," she said, "do not lay the blame on Religion; cast no sto