afflictions of human life."

Hamm sat down, a cup was set before him, and Angela poured him out a
cup of fragrant tea. The assessor acknowledged this service with his
sweetest smile, and the most obliged expression of thanks.

"You are right," he then said. "No one is exempt from the stroke of
fate. Man must submit to the unavoidable. To the ancients, blind fate
was terrific and frightful. The present enlightenment submits with
resignation."

If a bomb had plunged into the room and exploded upon the table, it
could not have produced greater confusion than these words of the
assessor. Madame Siegwart looked at him with astonishment and shook her
head. The proprietor, embarrassed, sipped his tea. Angela's blooming
cheeks lost their color. Hamm did not even perceive the effect of his
fatal words, and Frank was scarcely able to hide his secret pleasure at
Hamm's sad mishap.

"We know no fate, no blind, unavoidable destiny," said Siegwart, who
could not forgive the assessor his unchristian sentiment. "But we know
a divine providence, an all-powerful will, without whose consent the
sparrow does not fall from the house-top. We believe in a Father in
heaven who, counts the hairs of our heads, and whose counsels rule our
destiny."

Hamm smiled.

"You believe then, Herr Siegwart, that divine providence, or rather
God, has aimed that blow at you?"

"Yes; so I believe."

"Pardon me. I think you judge too hard of God. It is inconsistent with
his paternal goodness to afflict your beloved child with such
misfortune."

"Misfortune? It is to be doubted whether Eliza's death is a misfortune.
Perhaps her early departure from this world is precisely her happiness;
and then we must reflect that God is master of life and death. It is
not for us to call the Almighty to account, even if his divine
ordinances should be counter to our wishes."

"I respect your religious convictions, Herr Siegwart. Permit me,
however, to observe that God is much too exalted to have an eye to all
human trifles. He simply created the natural law; this he leaves to its
course. All the elements must obey these laws. Every creature is
subject to them; and when Eliza died, she died in consequence of the
course of these laws, but not through God's express will. Do you not
think that this view of our misfortunes reconciles us with the
conceptions we have of God's goodness?"

"No; I do not believe it, because such a view contradicts the Christian
faith," r