message for me to
follow him as he required my assistance in some family arrangements, and
meant to return home the same night. I went, leaving my wife and child
in the castle. That very night my kinsman's foe--knowing nothing of my
arrival--came to the castle, took the small body of defenders by
surprise, overcame them, and set the place on fire. Fiendish and
revengeful though the marauders were, I believe they would not wantonly
have murdered the helpless ones, had they known of their being in the
place, but they knew it not until too late.

"When we returned that night the castle was a black smoking ruin, and my
wife and little one had perished! Can you wonder that I fled from the
horrible spot; that I left my native land for ever; and that I shudder
at the very thought of strife?"

"Nay, brother, I wonder not," said Paul, in a sympathetic tone; "but I
fear there is no region on the face of this earth where the terrible
war-spirit, or, rather, war-fiend, is not alive."

"Why, the man whose life I took this very day," resumed Hendrick,
clenching his right hand almost fiercely, "has doubtless left a woman at
home who is now a widow, and it may be children, whom I have rendered
fatherless! No rest--no rest anywhere from this constant slaying of our
fellow-men; yet I was forced to do it to save the life of my wife's
kinsman! Oh! is there no deliverance, no hope for this poor world?"

"Hendrick," said Paul, laying his hand impressively on his friend's arm,
"there _is_ deliverance--there _is_ hope. See here."

He pulled out the manuscript Gospel as he spoke, and turning over the
well-thumbed leaves, read the words--

"`Jesus saith... A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one
another... Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe
also in me. In My Father's house are many mansions.' Hendrick, this
same Jesus, who is Immanuel, God with us, has said, `Come unto me, all
ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you _rest_.' `Him
that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.' These latter words are
not here, but they are in other scriptures which I have often heard
read."

"But how shall I know," said the hunter earnestly, "that these words are
true--that they are the words of God?"

For some time Paul made no reply, then suddenly, to the surprise of his
friend, he looked upwards, and, in a low voice, said--

"O Holy Spirit of God, convince my friend that these words a