sm believes. Such Althea
considered it--a direct interposition of Providence. She recognized,
with peculiar awe, the hand of Almighty God, and became as a little
child, willing to be led whithersoever He would.

It was natural she should turn to the bosom of that Church, before whose
altar she had seen her own soul as in a mirror, and whose anointed
priest seemed to have been chosen of God for her awakening and
instruction.

A few years earlier, she might have had prejudices to overcome; though
slight, for one brought up an Episcopalian. That her uncle lived and
died a good and true Catholic, and that her embittered aunt had embraced
and become greatly attached to the true Church, had insensibly
recommended it to her confidence. At first, she deemed herself unworthy
to enter the fold. She had broken, in thought, one of its stringent
laws. What she had come to regard as but a venial error, now appeared to
her as an unpardonable sin. So unpardonable, indeed, that left to
herself, she might have despaired of forgiveness, and returned to it
cherishingly, seven times worse than before. But this aged Missioner,
wise and experienced, knew well how to guide this untried soul. She was
not the first, by hundreds and thousands, who had knelt to him for
direction. He well understood the malady, and like a skillful physician,
knew what remedies to apply.

In a week, at the close of the Mission, Althea was ready for baptism.
She had her catechism by heart, and was pretty well grounded in
instruction. She had faith which would remove mountains, a confident
hope in Jesus, and a willing heart and hand for Christian action. She
stumbled not over Transubstantiation, nor Confession, nor any of the
Seven Sacraments. She embraced them with a loving heart and a simple
faith, not questioning but they were of God, since they were in His own
Church.

Whispers and winks were on the increase among Protestants. To secure an
election according to his own ideas, Mr. Rush had placed his wife where
she had made her own calling and election sure. This fact was slow in
dawning upon him, but when it had fairly caught his vision, it shone
with the effulgence of the sun. His friends had no pity for him. He had
placed his wife in the fire; what could he expect but that she would be
burned? It did not alter the case that Mrs. Sharp had been also in the
fire, but came out unconsumed. She was made of sterner stuff. Stubble
would burn, but rocks were incomb