u wonderful Mother. Ah, I see her!" cried Rosa triumphantly, and her
pale face flushed a rosy red. "Mother, Marianna, Mr. Boehnke, pray that
she may not turn away from us. Come, come!" She stretched out her hands
as though she wanted to draw the three people around her bed still
nearer. "Kneel down," she called out in a loud voice. "Oh, thou Lamb of
God that takest away the sins of the world, spare us, good Lord----"

"Hear us, good Lord," droned Marianna. She had dragged herself nearer
the bed, and now she hit her breast and bowed every time as she
repeated, "Spare us, good Lord! Hear us, good Lord! Have pity on us,
good Lord!"

Mrs. Tiralla and the schoolmaster exchanged a glance.

"The spirit has come over her," whispered the woman, and made the sign
of the cross. "She will soon reveal a great deal to us."

The schoolmaster hastily pulled out his notebook [Pg 131] with
trembling hands. He felt somewhat embarrassed and whispered uneasily,
"Marvellous, very marvellous!" He would have given much to be away from
it all, but he couldn't go, it was too wonderful. He would have to
write it all down so as to repeat it to the priest. What would he say
to having a clairvoyante among his congregation? Holy Mother, only not
that!

A sudden terror gripped him. He felt cold and hot by turns, and
his hands trembled as he held the book and pencil. If she really
could see into the future? Pshaw, she was nothing but a sickly,
romantic, delirious child. And still--he could not help shuddering
in the semi-darkness of that lonely little room, near the woman he
coveted--and still his excited fancy at once gave shape to what Rosa's
dreamy babbling had stirred up within him. The child was enraptured
with the dear Virgin who smiles at the innocent, but he adorned her
with all the voluptuous charms which she--his eyes glittered as they
hung on the woman he coveted--she possessed.

It was midnight before Mrs. Tiralla and the schoolmaster returned to
the sitting-room. The favoured child was sleeping soundly, there were
no more marvellous utterances to listen to. The trance was now over,
which had filled them all with such delight and during which Marianna
had buried her face in her hands and groaned:

"How beautiful, how beautiful! I don't understand it; but oh, how
beautiful!"

But the man was still in a state of great excitement. What else was
there for him to do, now that Mr. Tiralla had really gone away, but
clasp this smiling wom