never mind me, Rosendo. Let me rave. My full heart must
empty itself. Do you but look to Carmen for your faith. She is not of
the Church. She knows God, and she will lead you straight to Him. And
as you follow her, your foolish ideas of purgatory, hell, and
paradise, of wafers and virgins--all the tawdry beliefs which the
Church has laid upon you, will drop off, one by one, and melt away as
do the mists on the lake when the sun mounts high."

Carmen and Dona Maria sat against the wall of the old church, waiting
for them. The child ran through the darkness and grasped Jose's hand.

"I wouldn't go to sleep until you came, Padre!" she cried happily. "I
wanted to be sure you wouldn't sleep anywhere else than right next to
me."

"Padre," admonished Rosendo anxiously, "do you think you ought to let
her come close to you now? The plague--"

Jose turned to him and spoke low. "There is no power or influence that
we can exert upon her, Rosendo, either for good or evil. She is
obeying a spiritual law of which we know but little."

"And that, Padre?"

"Just this, Rosendo: _'Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind
is stayed on thee.'_"

The late moon peeped timidly above the drowsing treetops. Its yellow
beams stole silently across the still lake and up the hillside to the
crumbling church. When they reached the four quiet figures, huddled
close against the ghostly wall, they filtered like streams of liquid
gold through the brown curls of the little head lying on the priest's
shoulder. And there they dwelt as symbols of Love's protecting care
over the trusting children of this world, until the full dawn of the
glorious sun of Truth.

CHAPTER 21

Jose rose from his hard bed stiff and weary. Depression sat heavily
upon his soul, and he felt miserably unable to meet the day. Dona
Maria was preparing the coffee over a little fire back of the church.
The odor of the steaming liquid drifted to him on the warm morning air
and gave him a feeling of nausea. A sharp pain shot through his body.
His heart stopped. Was the plague's cold hand settling upon him?
Giddiness seized him, and he sat down again upon the rocks.

In the road below a cloud of dust was rising, and across the distance
a murmur of voices floated up to his ears. Men were approaching. He
wondered dully what additional trouble it portended. Rosendo came to
him at that moment.

"_Muy buenos dias, Padre._ I saw a boat come across the lake some
minutes