next
room and brought back with her Alexander and the child. They kneeled
beside the dying man, and Carmen asked with tears "Father, bless your
children!"

"Do you value the blessing of such as I?" he said humbly.

"Yes, my father, I cannot live without it."

Then the old man laid his hands on the three heads and murmured words
of benediction.

CHAPTER XII.

It was four o'clock in the afternoon, and the shadows of twilight began
to gather on the gloomy sky. Agatha brought in a lamp, and all retired
save Carmen; thus leaving her and her father alone together,
undisturbed. Mauer lay quiet, with his eyes half closed; while his
daughter sat holding his hand in a loving clasp, her head buried in the
coverlid. In the stillness which prevailed in the chamber of death,
the door was heard to open, and some one entered noiselessly; but the
draught caused by the open window closed the door sharply behind the
visitor. Mauer opened his eyes at the sound, and looked up vacantly as
if he did not recognize Jonathan. Carmen also raised her head; but
when she saw who it was, she immediately hid her face again, for she
felt it quite impossible to speak to him now. Kneeling between the bed
and the wall, her form was completely hidden in the dark shadow.

"Brother Mauer, I have just returned from the Country, and hear that
you have been ill. What is the matter?" asked Jonathan.

At the sound of his voice, the sick man shivered as if from an icy
breath of wind. He stared at the physician with dilated eyes.

"Brother Jonathan," he faltered, "the end has come, and the old, dark
story will be laid with me in the grave. I know I have sinned
grievously, but have atoned with a life of repentance and cruel
suffering for the murder of an inoffensive wife."

As the old man spoke, Jonathan looked at him sharply and searchingly.
The light of the lamp shone on his altered features, which bore the
stamp of death. The physician seized his hand; the pulse was almost
gone; there was no possibility of saving his life; each moment brought
the end nearer. Then Jonathan's hate, revenge, and scorn broke loose,
and flashed unrestrained from his eyes, which were fixed on the figure
lying before him. For twenty years he had hated this man more than any
other on earth; and for twenty years he had been obliged to put on the
hypocrisy of love towards him. What a trial for his hot, seething
passion! At the last, the moment had now come w