within the convent walls. On this last evening she lamented the confidence which had prevented her preparing herself for the encounter with society which she must again undergo. Her survey of the past presented nothing but melancholy, her anticipation of the future nothing but fearful images; and the objects on which her eye and ear loved commonly to dwell, now only nourished her sorrow. As she saw the herdsman following his kine down the valley, she had no benevolent thoughts to bestow on the wife and children who awaited him at his door. As she heard the horn of the hunter, or the song of the forester, from under the shadows of the woods, she did not look with her wonted complacency on joys which she believed to be far inferior to those of the privileged state in which she had lived till now, and which she had hitherto regarded in somewhat the same manner as the philosopher watches the first flight of a brood of nestlings, or the gambols of lambs among the furrows. She had now no leisure for the recreation of benevolent sympathies. Finding her individual lot involved in the revolution then taking place in the spiritual world of man, she gave herself up to amazement and grief that such a revolution should have been permitted: that the church of Christ and St. Peter should have been shaken to its very foundation, and that she, and hundreds as harmless as herself, should be driven from their retreats by the shock.

"He does all things well," thought she, "and therefore doubtless some mighty victory over the powers of hell is in preparation, of which their present portentous triumphs will but enhance the glory. But why, O why, is this daring heretic permitted to elude the arm of the Church? Why are the decrees of the Holy See of no avail against him? And above all, why is he suffered to drag the innocent, the pious, down into the same destruction with the blasphemer? How many are there now within these walls who, but for

him, might have lived holy and died assured of salvation, in whom vanity is already beginning to work, and who, in a few short weeks, will be tainted with the spirit of the world, and too probably, defiled with the heresy they now deplore! What can be so acceptable to heaven as a life of devotion in a retreat like this? Why, therefore, is it henceforth forbidden to us? If we are driven from our chosen place of safety into a region of snares, with whom will rest the guilt of our destruction? Not with Him whose kingdom is thus assailed. Heaven forbid the thought! It rests with him into whose hand the firebrand is given for a season, that he himself may be consumed at length. O, that this had been before or after my day, that I might not have mourned the going down of the sun as I mourn it now! It is gone. The last ray is fading from yonder highest peak. My last day of peace is closing." And Liese laid down her head and wept.

She sat motionless till it was dark, and then one of the sisters asked admittance. It was Helena, the youngest of the nuns, and the one who had most intercourse with Liese. She set down the lamp, and drawing Liese away from the window, placed her beside her on the couch. "I did not come sooner," she said, "though many of the sisters asked for you. I knew that their spirits would be too much for you. They were even for me, though I cannot feel so melancholy as you do."

"Where have you been, and what have you been doing?"

They made me go out with them upon the walls, to trace the different ways we shall be travelling to-morrow. It really was a beautiful evening, and I never saw the plain look so smiling, or its winding roads so tempting. How early the buds are bursting this year, as if it was on purpose to make our journey pleasant! Sister Catherine says, she never saw the woods with a green tinge upon them so early,

and that they will be in full leaf before she has done travelling through them. Her way lies east, and we could not trace it far among the mountains. You may guess which I looked."

way

"And did you see Nuremberg?"

"I could just distinguish its towers far, far away. I own it did make me tremble to think of the space we have to cross before we shall be safely housed again. But with you beside me I shall not be afraid of any thing." Liese smiled mournfully on her young companion. "The greatest danger of all, however," said Helena, "is one in which we could not help one another. Father Gottfried says, that the heretics in Saxony are becoming more and more violent, and that he thinks they may very likely come here. Carlostadius was lately at Hamburg, and his followers collected there, and went over the whole province, pulling down the altars, and unroofing the churches, and burning the books and priests' robes. There have been threatenings of such violence in this neighbourhood; and what should we do, Liese, if our way was lighted by burning churches?"

"Cast ourselves into the flames," cried Liese, fervently. "Not quite so," said Helena. "I would rather turn aside, and not see the sacrilege I could not prevent. But it would make our journey fearful."

"Dread it not, Helena. Franconia is quiet, at present, and will probably remain so, since the adversary does not meet with the checks he has to encounter in the north. But is it not strange that he who stirred up all this confusion should have disappeared so suddenly, while the tumult waxes greater, as if he were still present to excite it?"

"He is present," said Helena. "Books which no other man could write, appear from time to time. No one knows whence they come, or how they make their way; but none

doubt that they are his, and his followers own them and act upon them. Father Gottfried says, the Evil One has made Martin invisible for a while, that he may escape the arm of the Holy See. But Mother Church cannot be long baffled; and if ever there was virtue in a papal bull, or an emperor's edict, the decrees of Worms cannot be long evaded, and Martin will burn, body and soul."

"By the light of his pile, we will return hither," said Liese. "Nay," said Helena, thoughtfully, "but remember, that Martin is not now the only mover in this heresy. There is Carlostadius, with his crowds of followers in Saxony and Melancthon has most influence among the people who ought to be the most scandalized by his master's heresy. Father Gottfried says, that the smooth hypocrisy of Malancthon, and the impious satires in the books of Erasmus, (which are spreading more than ever) are far more dangerous than any thing that such a bold-fronted wretch as Mertin Luther can do. If so, I do not see how or where the evil is to be stayed."

"Nor I, Helena. But we cannot doubt the power of the Church. On this we must depend. How shall we magnify this power if it should lodge us again safely here!"

Helena was silent. She took up a book which lay within reach, and began to examine it.

"How hard," exclaimed Liese, "that our very last service should have been profaned by the presence of the heretic sent by the magistrates, and to be obliged to receive and keep this book! Nothing, however, can oblige me to read it. I wonder that you should like to open it."

"I had looked at my own, before," said Helena. "Do you know, I watched every one as the delegate made us pass before him, and receive the book. None looked so much moved as you, Liese. I was afraid you would have cast it down, and trampled upon it."

"I would have so trampled it under foot, if I had not feared to do harm by provoking opposition. But I also watched you, Helena, and I saw no traces of indignation. How was this?"

"Because I felt none. If it had been one of Martin's own books, I should have refused at all risks to receive it; but in this book there can be no heresy. It contains the gospel, which even Martin's enemies declare he has delivered pure."

"It is enough for me, Helena, and it ought to satisfy you, that the Church delivers the gospel to us in due measure and yet more, that the Word is here sent abroad clothed in a language in which it is not the will of the Church that it should be offered. If it be blasphemous to debase the gospel by translating it into a tongue which the meanest of the people may understand, it is surely daring, too daring, for one who is the spouse of Christ, to read what is thus translated. If Luther and Melancthon will thus defy the Church, it is not for us to encourage their heresy.""

Helena closed the book and changed the subject.

"How little did I think," said she, "when I took the vows, a year ago, how soon they would be broken!"

"And little did you imagine how easily you could bear to have them broken, Helena. This parting vesper service, which has wrung my soul, has not grieved yours."

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Yes," said Helena, "I felt grief when I kissed the relics for the last time, and when I looked on the crucifix which must be carried away to-morrow. But then, Liese, I remembered Nuremberg. Nurse Bohrla's voice was in my ears, and I thought of my garden, where the plants I was so fond of cannot all have died, and of the singing birds, which nurse vowed to keep for my sake. I hope there is no sin in remembering these things. I am sure I said my