,' answers the little Maria, much confused; and she tries
to hide behind Marcelena.

"'It is very dangerous and you will suffer much unless you have a
sacred cord of Saint Frances,' says the Sister. 'I will bring you
one.'

"And then she asks where the little Maria lives; and that very day she
brings a piece of rope, with knots in it, which she says the priest
has blessed, and it is a sacred cord of Saint Frances, and if the
little Maria will wear it around her waist she will not suffer at the
parturition; and the little Maria must pay a _peso oro_ for it--and
the scared little lamb paid it, for she had saved a little money which
Don Carlos Ojeda gave her for washing--and she wore it when the babe
was born; but it didn't help her--"

"_Dios!_" ejaculated the priest.

"And Marcelena had paid a _peso y medio_," continued the excited
woman, "for a candle that Sister Natalia told her had come from the
altar of the Virgin of Santander and was very holy and would help one
through confinement. But the candle went out; and it was only a round
stick of wood with a little piece of candle on the end. And I--Padre,
I could not help it, I would do anything for the poor child--I paid
two _pesos oro_ for a new _escapulario_ for her. Sister Natalia said
it was very holy--it had been blessed by His Grace, the Bishop, just
for women who were to be mothers, and it would carry them through--but
if they died, it would take them right out of purgatory--and--!"

"Catalina!" interrupted the tortured priest. "Say no more!"

"But, Padre, the babe," the woman persisted. "What will become of it?
And--do you know?--Padre Lorenzo says _it is yours!_ He told Juanita
so--she lives below us. But Maria says no. She has told only
Marcelena--and Marcelena will never tell. Who is its father, Padre?"

The priest, recognizing the inevitable, patiently resigned himself to
the woman's talk without further reply. Presently they turned into the
Calle Lazano, and entering the house where Marcelena had greeted him
that morning, mounted to the chamber above where lay the little
Maria.

A single candle on a table near the head of the bed shed a flickering,
uncertain light. But the window was open, and the moon's beams poured
into the room in golden profusion. Aside from the girl, there were no
other occupants than Marcelena and the new-born child.

"Padre," murmured the passing girl, "you will not let me die without
the Sacrament?"

"No, child," replied