alliance."

At Agatha's words Carmen grew deathly pale, and listened with wide-open
eyes. When the Sister ceased speaking, she sprang up, and turning from
the gentle eyes which sought hers, said passionately:

"But I will not have him for my husband!"

"Carmen, my dear, you will not have Jonathan for your husband? You do
not know what you are saying," cried Agatha.

"Yes, I do, Sister Agatha," answered Carmen, quickly, her large
lustrous eyes gleaming with a dangerous light. "Do you know how you
feel when you come in contact with a reptile, a snake? When I was a
little girl, on my father's plantation, I saw one day, under an
aloe-tree, what I thought was a green twig; and when I grasped it, it
was a cold, clammy snake, which, in a moment, twined itself around my
arm. I could not scream for terror; but Sarah, my mother's faithful
slave, saw it. She tore the viper from my arm, and flung it far away,
among the bushes. Sister Agatha, when Brother Jonathan comes near me,
I feel the same shiver go through, and the same feeling of horror
almost paralyzes my limbs. I could not endure to have him near me
always. I could not say to him, 'My husband'--no, not for all the
world!"

Carmen grew more and more excited as she went on.

"Perhaps not for all the world," interposed Agatha; "but for your own
salvation you must do it. Do not thrust the safety of your soul from
you in this way. As Brother Jonathan's wife, you will be a partaker of