She shook her head.

"The lot--the lot--" he repeated, but his voice refused to help him
tell the tale.

"Albert, may I see the letter?" Father and Mother Loretz might have
rejoiced in their daughter could they have seen and heard her in those
trying moments. Her gentleness and her serene dignity said for her
that she would not be over-thrown by the storm which had burst upon
her in a moment, unlocked for as tempest and whirlwind out of a clear
sky.

Spener thrust into her hands the letter addressed to him that morning
by the minister. It contained an announcement of the decision rendered
by the lot, couched in terms more brief, perhaps, than those which
conveyed the same intelligence to the father of Elise.

She gave it back to him without a word.

"If Brother Wenck is going to stand by it," said he, "there'll be no
room for him in this place. I was just going to his house to tell him
so. Will you go with me? I should like to have a witness. I'll make
short work of it."

"No," said Elise, shrinking back amazed from her companion. "I will
not go with you to insult that good man."

"You will go with me--_not_ to his house, then! Come, Elise, we must
talk about this. You must help me untie this knot. I cannot imagine
how I ever permitted things to take their chance. I have never heard