His strength. Carmen, how can the Lord guide you with His staff, if
you do not bow your will before Him, and try to curb your pride?"

Carmen, as she knelt, had rested her elbows on Sister Agatha's lap, and
thus supported her head on her hands, while she gazed into the
speaker's face, thinking earnestly of what she said.

"Do you call it pride, and are you vexed with me because I would not
tell to strangers what was indifferent, or perhaps amusing, to them?
Oh, Sister Agatha, is it necessary that we expose ourselves to the
derision of the world? We do not serve God by doing that. And when
you speak of pride, is it not that very feeling which leads you to
boast of our having come from so many and such distant lands? Do you
not wish to demonstrate by that means how your faith has penetrated
into all parts of the world? That is, after all, pride under the garb
of humility."

Sister Agatha was deeply touched, and remained silent for a moment;
then rising hastily, she said with a stern manner: "Do not confuse
trifles with grave subjects. All that we do, even the weakest, is for
the Lord's glory and praise, and not our own. What matter if the world
scorns us? If we are the Lord's, He is with us, and we care for naught
else. Search your heart, dear Sister, that you neglect not the
salvation of your soul. Accept for yourself a helper and guide, so
that your feet may not stray from the right path. There is one, whom I
know, is now ready to offer himself to you, than whom none is, more
steadfast in the faith. Brother Jonathan Fricke, the faithful friend
of your father, honors you most highly when he desires to have you for
his wife. To-day he explained to me his wishes on the subject; and the
elders, to whom I have spoken, give their cordial consent to the