hildburgers; for
these towns are to the Wurtembergers or Suabians what the Suabians are
to the Germans outside of themselves, and something like what the Irish
are to the English and Americans,--a tribe upon which every cobbler of
wit patches a shred of his facetiousness in the cheap and durable form
of a "bull." Ivo laughed heartily, and said, "I wish you and I could
travel about together for a whole year."

But this was soon to cease; for they were at the gates of Ehingen. Ivo
started and grasped his mother's hand. They put up at the Vineyard, not
far from the convent. Hardly had they seated themselves, however,
before the vesper-bell rang: Ivo's mother rose without speaking, took
the two boys by the hand, and went to church.

There is a peculiar power in the universal visibility of the Catholic
religion: wherever you go or stand, temples open wide their portals to
receive your faith, your hope, your charity; worshippers are everywhere
looking up to the same objects of veneration, uttering the same words,
and making the same gestures; you are surrounded by brothers, children
of the great visible holy father at Rome. Halls are always open to
receive you into the presence of the Lord, and you are never out of
your spiritual inheritance.

[Illustration: Christina and the two boys knelt devoutly at the altar.]

Thus Christina and the two boys knelt devoutly at the altar. They
forgot that their home was far away; for the hand of the Lord had
erected a dwelling around and over them.

With an invigorated confidence, the mother once more took the boys by
the hand and sought the convent-gate. There was much stir here, and men
and boys might be seen walking and running to and fro in all
directions, dressed in all the various costumes of the Catholic
portions of the country. The famulus at the entrance, having examined
their passports, brought them to the director. This was an old man of
rather querulous mien, who answered every remark and every question of
Christina with "Yes, yes: right enough." He had been catechized so much
that day that his taciturnity was not to be wondered at. Feeling Ivo
pulling at her skirt, she took courage to request that his reverence
would permit Ivo to sleep at the hotel for the coming night.

After some hesitation he said, "Well, yes. But he must be here before
church in the morning."

Bart took leave of Christina with a specimen of that verbiage of
gratitude which he had learned by heart