mind of
this girl!

Of a sudden a great thought flashed out of the depths of eternity and
into his brain, a thought which seemed to illumine his whole past
life. In the clear light thereof he seemed instantly to read meanings
in numberless events which to that hour had remained hidden. His
complex, misshapen career--could it have been a preparation?--and for
this? He had yearned to serve his fellow-men, but had miserably
failed. For, while to will was always present with him, even as with
Paul, yet how to perform that which was good he found not. But
now--what an opportunity opened before him! What a beautiful offering
of self was here made possible? God, what a privilege!

Rosendo sat stolid, buried in thought. Jose reached out through the
dim light and grasped his black hand. His eyes were lucent, his heart
burned with the fire of an unknown enthusiasm, and speech stumbled
across his lips.

"Rosendo, I came to Simiti to die. And now I know that I _shall_
die--to myself. But thereby shall I live. Yes, I shall live! And here
before this altar, in the sight of that God whom she knows so well, I
pledge my new-found life to Carmen. My mind, my thought, my strength,
are henceforth hers. May her God direct me in their right use for His
beautiful child!"

Jose and Rosendo rose from the bench with hands still clasped. In that
hour the priest was born again.

CHAPTER 4

"He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."

The reporters of the unique Man of Galilee, upon whose straining ears
these words fell, noted them for future generations of footsore
pilgrims on life's wandering highway--for the rich, satiated with
their gorgeous gluttonies; for the proud Levite, with his feet
enmeshed in the lifeless letter of the Law; for the loathsome and
outcast beggar at the gates of Dives. And for Jose de Rincon, priest
of the Holy Catholic Church and vicar of Christ, scion of aristocracy
and worldly learning, now humbled and blinded, like Paul on the road
to Damascus, begging that his spiritual sight might be opened to the
glory of the One with whom he had not known how to walk.

Returning in silence from the church to Rosendo's humble cottage, Jose
had asked leave to retire. He would be alone with the great Presence
which had come to him across the desert of his life, and now stood
before him in the brightness of the undimmed sun. He no longer felt
ill nor exhausted. Indeed, quite the contrary; a quickened sense o