"I have no doubt that all the preparation necessary for to-morrow
evening is being made," he said. "You may need this book. But I
did not come to talk about it. Sister Benigna," he continued in a
different tone, and a voice not quite under his control, "is it not
unreasonable to have passed a sleepless night thinking of Albert and
Elise?"

"Very unreasonable." But he had not charged her, as she supposed, with
that folly, as his next words showed.

"It is, and yet I have done it--only because all this might have been
so easily avoided."

"And yet it was unavoidable," said she, looking toward the school-room
door as one who had no time to waste in idle talk.

"Not that I question the wisdom of the resort if all were of one
mind," said Mr. Wenck, who had the dreary all-day before him, and was
not in the least pressed for time. "But I can see that even on the
part of Brother Loretz the act was not a genuine act of faith."

Startled by the expression the minister was giving to her secret
thoughts, Benigna exclaimed, "And yet what can be done?"

"Nothing," he answered. "If Loretz should yield to Spener, and if I
should--do you not see he has had everything his own way here?--he
would feel that nothing could stand in opposition to him. If he were a
different man! And they are both so young!"