devout pilgrim, attained on the summit of your mountain peak,
unless he accompanied me in spirit, unless his soul joined mine in the
ascent or the flight. It rests in mine as mine rests in his, and were
they separated both would bleed as if from severed veins. For this
reason, aunt, he can never blend into a uniform mass with the rest of
the world below me; for if I gained the radiant height, he would remain
at my side and gaze with me at the mist-veiled world beneath. He can
never vanish from the eyes of my soul, and so, dear aunt, because I owe
it to him to avoid even the semblance----"

Here she hesitated; for from the adjoining room they heard a man's deep
voice telling Els something in loud, excited tones.

This interruption was welcome to the abbess; she had as yet found no
answer to her niece's startling objection.

Eva answered her questioning glance with the exclamation, "Uncle
Pfinzing!"

"He?" replied the abbess dejectedly. "His opinion has some weight with
you, and this very day, during the burial, he told me how glad he should
be to see you sheltered in the convent from the hateful calumnies caused
by your imprudence!"

"Yet--you will see it directly," the girl declared, "he will surely
understand me when I explain that I would rather endure the worst than
appear to seek refuge from evil tongues in flight. Whoever has expected
Eva Ortlieb to shelter herself from malice behind strong walls will be
mistaken. Heinz is certainly aware of the shameful injustice which has
pursued us, and if he returns he must find me where he left me. I am now
encountering what my dead mother called the forge fire of life, and I
will not shun it like a coward. Heinz, I know, will overthrow the man
who unchained this generation of vipers against us; but if he does not
return, or can bring himself to cast the love that unites us behind him
with the world from which he would fain turn, then, aunt"--and Eva's
eyes flashed brightly with passionate fire, and her clear voice
expressed the firm decision of a vigorous will--"then I will commit our
cause to One who will not suffer falsehood to conquer truth or wrong
to triumph over right. Then, though it should be necessary to walk over
red-hot ploughshares, let the ordeal bear witness for us."

The abbess, startled, yet rejoicing at the fulness of faith flaming
in her darling's passionate speech, approached Eva to soothe her;
but scarcely had she begun to speak when the door opened