e thirsty world had welcomed, while it had
them, with gladness and joy; and now was sorrowing for them in
unavailing desire.

Both the youth and the girl were silent for a long time. But when she
saw the tears streaming fast down his cheeks, and he appeared to be
sinking under the burden of his sorrow, she spoke to him with so much
truthfulness and power, with such kindness and such confidence, that,
astonished at the flow of her words, he was able to recover himself, and
he saw his beautiful friend floating before him in the new life of a
higher world. His tears ceased flowing; his sorrow grew lighter: on his
knees he took leave of Ottilie, and with a warm pressure of the hand of
Nanny, he rode away from the spot into the night without having seen a
single other person.

The surgeon had, without the girl being aware of it, remained all night
in the church; and when he went in the morning to see her, he found her
cheerful and tranquil. He was prepared for wild aberrations. He thought
that she would be sure to speak to him of conversations which she had
held in the night with Ottilie, and of other such apparitions. But she
was natural, quiet, and perfectly self-possessed. She remembered
accurately what had happened in her previous life; she could describe
the circumstances of it with the greatest exactness, and never in
anything which she said stepped out of the course of what was real and
natural, except in her account of what had passed with the body, which
she delighted to repeat again and again, how, Ottilie had raised herself
up, had blessed her, had forgiven her, and thereby set her at rest for
ever.

Ottilie remained so long in her beautiful state, which more resembled
sleep than death, that a number of persons were attracted there to look
at her. The neighbors and the villagers wished to see her again, and
every one desired to hear Nanny's incredible story from her own mouth.
Many laughed at it, most doubted, and some few were found who were able
to believe.

Difficulties, for which no real satisfaction is attainable, compel us to
faith. Before the eyes of all the world, Nanny's limbs had been broken,
and by touching the sacred body she had been restored to strength again.
Why should not others find similar good fortune? Delicate mothers first
privately brought their children who were suffering from obstinate
disorders, and they believed that they could trace an immediate
improvement. The confidence of the p