r?" Father and Mother Loretz might have
rejoiced in their daughter could they have seen and heard her in those
trying moments. Her gentleness and her serene dignity said for her
that she would not be over-thrown by the storm which had burst upon
her in a moment, unlocked for as tempest and whirlwind out of a clear
sky.

Spener thrust into her hands the letter addressed to him that morning
by the minister. It contained an announcement of the decision rendered
by the lot, couched in terms more brief, perhaps, than those which
conveyed the same intelligence to the father of Elise.

She gave it back to him without a word.

"If Brother Wenck is going to stand by it," said he, "there'll be no
room for him in this place. I was just going to his house to tell him
so. Will you go with me? I should like to have a witness. I'll make
short work of it."

"No," said Elise, shrinking back amazed from her companion. "I will
not go with you to insult that good man."

"You will go with me--_not_ to his house, then! Come, Elise, we must
talk about this. You must help me untie this knot. I cannot imagine
how I ever permitted things to take their chance. I have never heard
of a sillier superstition than I seem to have encouraged. Talk about
faith! Let a man act up to light and take the consequences. I can see
clear enough now. _You_ never looked for this to happen, Elise?"

She shook her head. Indeed, she never had--no, not for a moment.

"To think I should have permitted it to go on!"

"But you did let it go on--and I--consented. Do not let me forget
that," she exclaimed. "I will go home, Albert."

"Ha, Elise! I wish I could feel more confidence in your teachers when
you get there."

"I need no one to tell me what my duty is just here," she answered.

"Have you ever loved me, child? _Child_! I am talking to a rock. You
do not yield to this?" He waved the letter aloft, and as if he would
dash it from him. Elise looked at him, and did not speak. "Sister
Benigna will of course feel called upon to bless the Lord," said he.
"But Wenck shall find a way out of this difficulty. Then we will have
done with them both, my own."

"Am I to have no voice in this matter?" she asked. "What if I say--"

Spener grasped her hand so suddenly that, as if in her surprise she
had forgotten what she was about to say, Elise added, "Sister Benigna
is my best friend. She knows nothing about the lot."

"Does not?"

"I told you, Albert, that it was