s eyes, "Good-night, Cornelia." Ivo
read the letter, as the footing upon which he and Clement stood fully
justified him in doing; and here, at last, he found a slight clue to
the jumble of occurrences which bewildered him. A wealthy uncle of
Clement's mother had died, leaving her all his property: the brightest
prospects opened to the future of the family. Ivo rarely left his
friend's bedside, and, when compelled to do so, Bart usually took his
place.

It was a painful duty. Clement generally brooded in a half-doze, with
his eyes open, but apparently seeing nothing. He would ask Ivo to lay
his hand upon his burning forehead, and then, closing his eyes, he
said, "Ah!" as if the touch had expelled torturing spirits from the
narrow tenement of his brain. At times he started up and furiously
denounced the world and its heartlessness. If Ivo undertook to pacify
him, he only turned his wrath against the comforter, struck at him with
trembling hands, and cried, "You heartless loon, you can torture me,
eh?"

Ivo bore all this calmly, though with tears. Sometimes he even
experienced a sort of inward satisfaction at the thought that he was
favored to suffer in the cause of friendship.

When Clement awoke on the fourth day, it seemed as if, somewhere in the
infinity of space, and yet very, very near to him, a niche had opened
filled with light: something around him, and something from within him,
cried, "Clement!" He was restored to himself. For years after he was
wont to tell how at that moment God seemed to shine upon him with all
the rays of His glory, and to bring him back to Him and to himself.
When he had recovered his composure, he said, lifting up his hands, "I
hunger after the Lord's table." Calling for the confessor, he told him
all,--how he had conjured the devil to aid him, how the devil had heard
his prayer and then struck him to the earth. In deep contrition, he
begged for a heavy chastisement and for absolution. The confessor
imposed a slight penance, and urgently exhorted him to look upon what
had taken place as a warning to flee from all worldly wishes and devote
himself to the service of God alone.

Could any one have observed the face of Clement as he lay with his eyes
closed in faith, while the confessor spoke the benediction over him and
made the sign of the cross over his body in token of the forgiveness of
his sins,--could any one have watched the tension of his muscles and
the pulsation of his checks,-