ver bigotry and superstition; she burst into tears,
and, folding her daughter to her bosom, exclaimed, "And I, Ava, am glad
to have you, darling!"

"I always said that she was a good woman, and now I am convinced of it,"
said the Knight. "Father Nicholas has done his best to spoil her, but,
thank Heaven! he has not succeeded, and his reign is pretty well over, I
suspect."

Laneta, who really in her way loved her sister, followed her mother's
lead, and embraced Ava affectionately. The Dame Margaret was also not a
little gratified when she found that her daughter's companion in her
flight was so high-born a girl as Beatrice von Reichenau.

"If a young lady of her rank could do such a thing, it surely could not
be so very wrong," she said to herself.

Her reasoning was not very good, but it served just then to smooth
matters.

Ava and her friend were not idle in the Castle, nor did they confine
their labours to it. Their mild, gentle, subdued manners and earnest
and zealous spirits attracted all hearts with whom they came in contact.
The glorious truths they had received into their own souls they were
anxious to impart to others, nor did they feel that any trouble, any
exertion, was too great for them to take to forward that object. Still
it was very evident that to effect any speedy change on a large scale
among the peasantry a preacher was required. Albert von Otten had been
made a priest in the days of his ignorance, before he went to
Wittemburg, and he remembered the Knight's offer to let him preach in
the neighbouring church. Father Nicholas somewhat demurred, but the
Knight assured him that Albert von Otten, he was sure, would only preach
sound doctrine, and advised him to hold his tongue. Such a sermon as
Albert preached had never been heard in that church. He said not a word
about himself. He held up but one object--Christ Jesus walking on
earth, Christ Jesus crucified, Christ rising again, Christ ascending
into heaven, Christ sitting on the right hand of God pleading for
sinners. Then he added:

"Dear friends, once a man came among you to sell you what he called
indulgences; were they indulgences to commit sin, or indulgences to
obtain pardon? What impious imposition! Oh! dear friends--dear
friends! God's gifts of grace are free--are priceless. The blood of
His only Son purchased them for us once for all. Gifts, gifts--free,
free gifts--are what God offers; no selling now, no purchasing now--