d and
in fine array; and when he saw Katharina kiss the dead woman's hand he,
too, as soon as she looked away, pressed his lips on the place hers had
touched. Then he sat down by the bed and remained there till she sent
him away.

Before noon the bishop arrived to perform the last rites. He found the
body surrounded by beautiful flowers. Katharina had been out in the
garden again and had cut all the rarest and finest; and though she had
allowed the gardener to carry the basket for her, she would not have him
help her in gathering them. The feeling that she was doing something for
her mother had been a comfort to her; still, by day everything about her
seemed even more intolerable than by night. Everything looked so large,
so coarse, so insistent, so menacing, and reminded her at every step
of some injustice or some deed of which she was ashamed. Every eye, she
fancied, must see through her; and now and then it seemed as though the
pillars of the great banqueting-hall, where her mother still lay, were
tottering, and the ceiling about to fall in and crush her.

She answered the bishop's questions absently and often quite at random,
and the old man supposed that she was stunned by her great sorrow; so to
give her thoughts a new direction he began telling her about Paula, and
believing that Katharina was fond of her, he confided to her that he
had taken Paula, the day before, to Orion's cell, and consecrated their
betrothal.

At this her face was convulsed in a manner that alarmed the bishop; a
fearful tumult raged in her soul, her bosom rose and fell spasmodically,
and all she could utter was the question: "But they will sacrifice her
all the same?"

The bishop thought he understood. She was horror stricken by the idea
of the sudden, cruel end that hung over the young bride, and he replied
sadly; "I shall not be able to restrain the wretches; still, no means
shall remain untried. The patriarch's rescript, condemning this mad
crime, shall be made public to-day, and I will read and expound it at
the Curia, and try to give it keener emphasis.--Would you like to read
it?"

As she eagerly assented, the prelate signed to the acolyte who had
waited on him with the holy vessels, and he produced from a packet a
written sheet which he handed to Katharina. As soon as she was alone
she read the patriarch's epistle; at first superficially, then more
carefully, and at last in deep attention and growing interest, stirred
by it to