g whom she could
mean.

"The Lord Jesus Christ, who died on Calvary that I might be washed from
my sins by His precious blood there shed for me," answered the young
girl, promptly.

"Ah! but you love the Holy Virgin, the immaculate Mother of God, too, do
you not?" asked the priest.

"Yes, indeed, I do love the Holy Virgin, for she was blessed among
women, and nurtured and brought up the dear Jesus, who died for me and
for her too, that we might be saved," said Dona Leonor, without
hesitation.

"Ah! what! do not you pray to the Holy Virgin, little maiden?" asked the
priest, looking at her sternly. "This must be looked to," he muttered
to himself.

"Why should I pray to her, when I have the gentle loving Jesus, to whom
I may go in prayer at all times and in all places?" she asked with
simplicity, and with a tone of surprise that the priest should not agree
with her.

"And you do not pray to the saints either, then, perhaps?" he asked,
before the girl had finished the last sentence.

"Oh, no! they are dead and cannot hear me. I pray only to the good
Jesus, who always is ready to hear me; for He loves me more than my dear
father did, or even than my mother can," answered Dona Leonor.

"These are not Catholic doctrines, young lady," said the Bishop in a
tone of harshness he had not yet used. "Who taught them to you? They
smack strongly of heresy."

"I do not know what heresy means," answered Dona Leonor, in an artless
tone. "My dear father taught me what I know about the loving Jesus--
that He is the only friend in whom human beings can really trust. It
was the sure knowledge of this which comforted him through his illness,
and made his deathbed so happy and glorious. He told us to meet him in
heaven, and I do hope to meet him there some day. The thought of that
makes me extremely happy, whenever it comes to my mind."

"You hold very strange doctrines, child," said the Bishop, sharply.
"Has your mother embraced them?"

"I know nothing about doctrines, my lord," answered Dona Leonor. "I
think that my mother must hope to meet our dear father in heaven, or she
would be very miserable; and I am sure she cannot hope to get there
except through her trust in the blood of Jesus. I hope, my lord Bishop,
that you expect to go there by that sure and only way."

"I cannot expect to go there except by the way the Church points out,
and I cannot even know that there is a heaven except through what the
Church tea