the
building opposite that by which the operatives entered the factory,
and the hours were so timed that the children went and came without
disturbance to themselves or others. The path that led to the basement
door was neatly bordered with flowering plants and bushes, and
sunlight was always to be found there, if anywhere in the valley, from
eight o'clock till two.

Leonhard walked to the factory with Sister Benigna, to whose conduct
Loretz had consigned him when called away by the tower bell.

At the door of the basement Mr. Wenck was standing with a printed copy
of Handel's sacred oratorio of _The Messiah_ in his hand. Evidently he
was waiting for Sister Benigna.

But when she had said to Leonhard, "Pass on to the other end of the
building and you will find the entrance, and Mr. Spener's office in
the corner as you enter," and Leonhard had thanked her, and bowed and
passed on, and she turned to Mr. Wenck, it was very little indeed that
he said or had to say about the music which he held in his hand.

"I have no doubt that all the preparation necessary for to-morrow
evening is being made," he said. "You may need this book. But I
did not come to talk about it. Sister Benigna," he continued in a
different tone, and a voice not quite under his control, "is it not
unreasonable to have passed a sleepless night thinking of Albert and
Elise?"

"Very unreasonable." But he had not charged her, as she supposed, with
that folly, as his next words showed.

"It is, and yet I have done it--only because all this might have been
so easily avoided."

"And yet it was unavoidable," said she, looking toward the school-room
door as one who had no time to waste in idle talk.

"Not that I question the wisdom of the resort if all were of one
mind," said Mr. Wenck, who had the dreary all-day before him, and was
not in the least pressed for time. "But I can see that even on the
part of Brother Loretz the act was not a genuine act of faith."

Startled by the expression the minister was giving to her secret
thoughts, Benigna exclaimed, "And yet what can be done?"

"Nothing," he answered. "If Loretz should yield to Spener, and if I
should--do you not see he has had everything his own way here?--he
would feel that nothing could stand in opposition to him. If he were a
different man! And they are both so young!"

"I know that Elise has a conscience that will hold her fast to duty,"
said Benigna, but she did not speak hopefully: she sp