placid manner:

"It was a fearful sin for a member of our faith to fall into, and
Brother Mauer should have resisted the temptation. I spoke to him
frequently about it, but he had lost all power of self-control. He was
too much absorbed in love for his wife, and therefore it was a mercy to
his soul and Carmen's that this Spanish girl died, and the child was
placed here, under our discipline, where she may yet be won over to a
spiritual life," he concluded, and cast a humble, sanctimonious look on
Sister Agatha.

"Where were you when her mother died?" asked the Sister. "Were you
with her?"

"No; she has been dead about ten years, and I left Jamaica some time
before that, as my health could not stand the climate. I went from
there to the northern part of the United States. From Bethlehem, where
I remained several years, I went back to the old place, and when I got
there Carmen was a wee little maiden, and I was told that Brother Mauer
had left Jamaica for the East Indies."

"Well, surely the Lord called him to be His instrument," interrupted
Sister Agatha. "It was wonderful how he was seized with such an
irrepressible desire to be a missionary. And as far as we can know, he
has worked without flagging for the faith. All news from him has
ceased for some time now; and is it not strange that he has never made
any application for money? He took only a very small sum with him when
he went on his mission, and the large sum which the sale of his lands
in Jamaica brought is still in a bank in this country."