two years he has dwelt under our roof, he has constantly evinced so
true an attachment for us, and such a noble zeal against the tyranny of
the pope, that I would answer for his honesty with my life.'

'You judge of others according to the goodness of your own heart!'
cried the parson. 'Believe me, in the iron times in which we live one
cannot be too cautious. One Judas was found even among the apostles.
Many a one who was a Paul for the pure evangelical doctrines has fallen
from the faith, and now rages an angry Saul against his former
brethren. The devil has once more become wholly devilish, and the
anti-christ again goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may
devour. The emperor, incited by the monks, has determined to effect a
counter reformation in Silesia; and already in Glogau, the
Lichtensteins,[1] those terrible men of blood, who convert by fire and
sword, are raging in a furious and shocking manner.'

'Ah, reverend sir,' complained Katharine, 'we have invited you to share
our joys and partake with us of the festival of our Lord; but by
repeating such dreadful news you will embitter all our enjoyments, and
convert our christmas supper into a mourning feast.'

'It is the duty of a faithful pastor,' said the clergyman, 'to frighten
away the sleep of safety into which we are rocked by ease and
selfishness. Our good Schweidnitz will also have to suffer in its turn.
Have they not already taken from us the honorably purchased church of
the cross, and the church of our dear lady of the woods? Have they not
already forbidden us the service of God in the church of the Holy
Ghost? They will surely take the earliest opportunity to do the same
with St. Stanislaus and St. Wenceslaus. Various suspicious signs and
tokens have lately been seen. As I was observing the stars last night,
with my colleague Glogero, the constellations were very ominous; and
about midnight a fearful sign arose in the heavens from the north. A
large red ball of fire described a flaming arch from the edge of the
horizon to the zenith of the parish church, where it burst with a
powerful explosion. It indicates the near proximity of great danger to
our religious liberties.'

During this speech so prophetic of evil, Katharine, with a happy
feminine tact, contrived to forget the threatened troubles amid the
little cares of the moment, and proceeded to ignite the innumerable
lights of the christmas-trees, and those placed in the little manger
fo