f
life, an eagerness to embrace the opportunity opening before him,
caused his chest to heave and his shrunken veins to throb.

On his bed in the darkened room he lay in a deep silence, broken only
at intervals by the hurried scampering of lizards darting through the
interstices of the dry walls. His uncomprehending eyes were fixed upon
the dust-laden thatch of the roof overhead, where droning wasps toiled
upon their frail abodes. He lay with the portals of his mind opened
wide. Through them, in ceaseless flow, passed two streams which did
not mingle. The one, outward bound, turbid with its burden of egoism,
fear, perplexity, and hopelessness, which, like barnacles, had
fastened to his soul on its chartless voyage; the other, a stream of
hope and confidence and definite purpose, a stream which leaped and
sang in the warm sunlight of Love as it poured into his receptive
brain.

The fresh thought which flowed into his mental chambers rapidly formed
into orderly plans, all centering upon the child, Carmen. What could
he teach her? The relative truths and worldly knowledge--purified,
as far as in him lay, from the dross of speculation and human
opinion--which lay stored in the archives of his mind? Yes; but that
was all. History, and its interpretation of human progress; the
languages; mathematics, and the elements of the physical sciences;
literature; and a knowledge of people and places. With these his
retentive mind was replete. But beyond this he must learn of her.
And her tutor, he now knew, was the Master Mind, omniscient God.
And he knew, more, that she possessed secrets whose potency he might
as yet scarcely imagine. For, in an environment which for dearth of
mental stimulus and incentive could scarcely be matched; amid
poverty but slightly raised above actual want; untouched by the
temperamental hopelessness which lies just beneath the surface of
these dull, simple folk, this child lived a life of such ecstasy as
might well excite the envy of the world's potentates.

But meantime, what should be his attitude toward the parish? He fully
realized that he and the Church were now as far apart as the poles.
Yet this was become his parish, the first he had ever held; and these
were his people. And he must face them and preach--what? If not the
Catholic faith, then would he be speedily removed. And that meant
complete disruption of his rapidly formulating plans. But might he not
in that event flee with Carmen, renounc