"No. I could
not go to the North with you; nor could Maria."

"But, Rosendo!" exclaimed the priest impatiently, "why?"

"_Bien_, Padre, we are old. And we know not the language of those up
there. Nor the customs. We could not adapt ourselves to their ways of
life--no, not at our age. Nor could we endure the change of climate.
You tell me they have cold, ice, snow, up there. What could we do? We
would die. No, we must remain here. But--" his voice choked.

"_Bien_, Padre, do you go, and take the girl. Bring her up to be a
power for good in that great land. We--Maria and I--will remain in
Simiti. It is not permitted that we should ever leave. This has always
been our home, and here we will die."

Jose exclaimed again in impatience. But the old man was immovable.

"No, Padre, we could not make so great a change. Anywhere in Colombia
would be but little different from Simiti. But up north--in that great
country where they do those wonderful things you have told me
about--no, Padre, Maria and I could not make so great a change.

"But, Padre," he continued, "what will you do--leave the Church? Or
will you still be a priest up there?"

The question startled Jose rudely. In the great joy which the
discovery of the gold had stimulated, and in the thought of the
possibilities opened by it, he had given no heed to his status
respecting the Church. Yet, if he remained in the Church, he could not
make this transfer without the approval of the Vatican. And that, he
well knew, could not be obtained. No, if he went, he must leave behind
all ecclesiastical ties. And with them, doubtless, the ties which
still bound him to his distant mother and the family whose honored
name he bore. It was not so easy a matter to take the girl and leave
Simiti, now that he gave the project further consideration.

And yet he could not abandon the idea, however great his present sense
of disappointment. He would cling to it as an ideal, some day to be
realized, and to be worked up to as rapidly as might be, without
exciting suspicion, and without abruptly severing the ties which, on
serious reflection, he found he was not morally strong enough as yet
to break.

"_Bien_, Rosendo," he concluded in chastened tones. "We will think it
over, and try to devise ways to accomplish the greatest good for the
child. I shall remain here for the present."

Rosendo's face beamed with joy. "The way will be shown us some time,
Padre!" he exclaimed. "And while