toward the priest and whispered low--"the
people here don't know who God is; and you are going to teach them!
There was a _Cura_ here once, when I was a baby; but I guess he didn't
know God, either."

She lapsed into silence, as if pondering this thought. Then, clapping
her hands with unfeigned joy, she cried in a shrill little voice, "Oh,
Padre, I am _so_ glad you have come to Simiti! I just _knew_ God would
not forget us!"

Jose had no reply to make. His thought was busy with the phenomenon
before him: a child of man, but one who, like Israel of old, saw God
and heard His voice at every turn of her daily walk. Untutored in the
ways of men, without trace of sophistication or cant, unblemished as
she moved among the soiled vessels about her, shining with celestial
radiance in this unknown, moldering town so far from the world's
beaten paths.

The door opened softly and Rosendo entered, preceded by a cheery
greeting.

_"Hombre!_" he exclaimed, surveying the priest, "but you mend fast!
You have eaten all the broth! But I told the good wife that the little
Carmen would be better than medicine for you, and that you must have
her just as soon as you should awake."

Jose's eyes dilated with astonishment. Absorbed in the child, he had
consumed almost his entire breakfast.

"He is well, padre Rosendo, he is well!" cried the girl, bounding up
and down and dancing about the tall form of her foster-father. Then,
darting to Jose, she seized his hand and cried, "Now to see my garden!
And Cucumbra! And--!"

"Quiet, child!" commanded Rosendo, taking her by the arm. "The good
_Cura_ is ill, and must rest for several days yet."

"No, padre Rosendo, he is well--all well! Aren't you, Padre?"
appealing to Jose, and again urging him forth.

The rapidity of the conversation and the animation of the beautiful
child caused complete forgetfulness of self, and, together with the
restorative effect of the wholesome food, acted upon the priest like a
magical tonic. Weak though he was, he clung to her hand and,
struggling out of the bed, stood uncertainly upon the floor. Instantly
Rosendo's arm was about him.

"Don't try it, Padre," the latter urged anxiously. "The heat will be
too much for you. Another day or two of rest will make you right."

But the priest, heedless of the admonition, suffered himself to be led
by the child; and together they passed slowly out into the living
room, through the kitchen, and thence into the diminuti