ity; and lastly, his
cunning."

"You are not favorable to him?"

"No, indeed! The Siegwart family is excessively ultramontane and
clerical. You know I cannot endure these narrow prejudices and this
obstinate adherence to any form of religion. Besides, I have a
particular reason for disagreement with Siegwart, of which I need not
now speak."

"Excessively ultramontane and clerical!" thought Richard, as he went to
his room. "Angela is undoubtedly educated in this spirit. Stultifying
confessionalism and religious narrow-mindedness have no doubt cast a
deep shadow over the 'angel.' Now--patience; the deception will soon
banish."

He took up Schlosser's History, and read a long time. But his eyes
wandered from the page, and his thoughts soon followed.

The next morning at the same hour Richard went to the weather cross. He
took the same road and again he met Angela; she had the same blue
dress, the same straw hat on her arm, and flowers in her hand. She
beheld him with the same clear eyes, with the same unconstrained
manner--only, as he thought, more charming--as on the first day. He
greeted her coolly and formally, as before. She thanked him with the
same affability. Again the temptation came over him to look back at
her; again he overcame it. When he came to the statue, he found fresh
flowers in the vases. The child Jesus had fresh forget-me-nots in his
hand, and the Mother had a crown of fresh roses on her head. On the
upper stone lay a book, bound in blue satin and clasped with a silver
clasp. When he took it up, he found beneath it a rosary made of an
unknown material, and having a gold cross fastened at the end. He
opened the book. The passage that had been last read was marked with a
silk ribbon. It was as follows:

"My son, trust not thy present affection; it will be quickly changed
into another. As long as thou livest thou art subject to change, even
against thy will; so as to be sometimes joyful, at other times sad; now
easy, now troubled; at one time devout, at another dry; sometimes
fervent, at other times sluggish; one day heavy, another day lighter.
But he that is wise and well instructed in spirit stands above all
these changes, not minding what he feels in himself, nor on what side
the wind of instability blows; but that the whole bent of his soul may
advance toward its due and wished-for end; for thus he may continue one
and the self-same without being shaken, by directing without ceasing,
through