is true that my love for Anselmo
is only the love we should all bear towards each other; but for him it
is supreme and exalted above all words. In my dreams he comes to me as
an angel of light bidding me be of good courage; in my waking hours he
is my best and truest friend, my hero and my king. Is not this better
than all the passionate vows which rarely survive one's early youth, and
too often die under the strain of life's daily work? For me, Anselmo is
still surrounded by all the romance of our first youth. He is a sort of
earthly shekinah, a pillar of fire guiding me onwards."

"And you never regret the choice you have made? the companionship you
have given up? the right of calling Anselmo husband? the sacrifice of
motherhood, which is said to be sweetest of all earthly ties to woman?"

[Illustration: CATHEDRAL CLOISTERS: GERONA.]

"Regret?" she softly murmured. "A hundred times since it happened
conviction has been vouchsafed to me in my dreams, strengthening my
faith, showing the wisdom of my choice. Every day of my life I thank
Heaven for the power it gave me. Had I married Anselmo, he would have
become my religion; my heart's best affection given to him, Heaven would
have come second. I know and feel it. And we know Who has said: 'He that
loveth father and mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me.' Yet that
would have been my case in the earlier years; and in the later--who can
tell?--perhaps what I have described."

"Impossible, for Anselmo is worthy of all love, and could never change.
One rarely meets any one like him. He seems little less than saint."

"He is very saintly," replied Rosalie, with almost a look of ecstasy. "I
frequently meet the priesthood in the sick-room, at the bedside of the
dying. The difference in the ministrations is wonderful. The very
entrance of Anselmo brings consolation, seems to sanctify the chamber.
Sometimes it is almost as though an angel spoke."

If she at all exaggerated, who could wonder? She saw and heard and
judged everything through her own nature; and to the sick and sorrowing
no doubt came herself as a rainbow of hope.

"You have done wisely and chosen the better part," we said. "Your life
in consequence is peaceful and happy."

"It could not be more so," answered Rosalie. "I have my earthly shekinah
to lighten my path. My heart is so much in my work that if I lived for a
century I should never weary of it. What higher mission or greater
privilege could there