onger, and would fit him to
become a power among men, a conserver of the sacred faith, and an
ensample of the highest morality.

"Ah, _sobrinito_," the sharp-visaged, gray-haired uncle had said,
"truly a fortunate boy are you to hear this grandest of opportunities
knocking at your door! A priest--a God! Nay, even more than God, for
as priest God gives you power over Himself!"

The boy's wondering eyes widened, and a look of mingled confusion and
astonishment came into his wan face. "I do not see, _tio mio_--I do
not see," he murmured.

"But you shall, you shall! And you shall understand the awful
responsibility which God thus reposes upon you, when He gives you
power to do greater things than He did when He created the world. You
shall command the Christ, and He shall come down at your bidding. Ah,
_chiquito_, a fortunate boy!" But the lad turned wearily away, without
sharing his uncle's enthusiasm.

The day before his departure Jose was again conducted before the
Archbishop, and after listening to a lengthy resume of what the Church
was about to do for him, and what she expected in return, two solemn
vows were exacted from him--

"First," announced the uncle, in low, deliberate tones, "you will
solemnly promise your mother and your God that, daily praying to be
delivered from the baneful influences which now cause doubt and
questioning in your mind, and refraining from voicing them to your
teachers or fellow-students, you will strive to accept all that is
taught you in Rome, deferring every endeavor to prove the teachings
you are to receive until the end of your long course, when, by
training and discipline, you shall have so developed in goodness,
purity, and power, that you shall be found worthy to receive spiritual
confirmation of the great tenets upon which the Holy Roman Catholic
Church has been founded and reared."

He paused for a moment to catch his breath and let his portentous
words sink into the quivering brain of the lad before him. Then he
resumed--

"Second, keeping ever in mind your debt of gratitude to the Church,
you promise faithfully to finish your course, and at the end offer
yourself to the service of God in the holy priesthood."

The solemn hush that lay over the room when he finished was broken
only by the muffled sobs of the mother.

Tender in years, plunged into grief at the impending separation from
home and all that he held dear, the boy knelt before the secretary and
gave his tr