doubt that they are his, and his followers own them and act upon them. Father Gottfried says, the Evil One has made Martin invisible for a while, that he may escape the arm of the Holy See. But Mother Church cannot be long baffled; and if ever there was virtue in a papal bull, or an emperor's edict, the decrees of Worms cannot be long evaded, and Martin will burn, body and soul."

'By the light of his pile, we will return hither," said Liese. Nay," said Helena, thoughtfully, "but remember, that Martin is not now the only mover in this heresy. There is Carlostadius, with his crowds of followers in Saxony: and Melancthon has most influence among the people who ought to be the most scandalized by his master's heresy. Father Gottfried says, that the smooth hypocrisy of Malancthon, and the impious satires in the books of Erasmus, (which are spreading more than ever) are far more dangerous than any thing that such a bold-fronted wretch as Mertin Luther can do. If so, I do not see how or where the evil is to be stayed."

"Nor I, Helena. But we cannot doubt the power of the Church. On this we must depend. How shall we magnify this power if it should lodge us again safely here!"

Helena was silent. She took up a book which lay within reach, and began to examine it.

"How hard," exclaimed Liese, "that our very last service should have been profaned by the presence of the heretic sent by the magistrates, and to be obliged to receive and keep this book! Nothing, however, can oblige me to read it. I wonder that you should like to open it."

"I had looked at my own, before," said Helena. "Do you know, I watched every one as the delegate made us pass before him, and receive the book. None looked so much moved as you, Liese. I was afraid you would have cast it down, and trampled upon it."

"I would have so trampled it under foot, if I had not feared to do harm by provoking opposition. But I also watched you, Helena, and I saw no traces of indignation. How was this?"

"Because I felt none. If it had been one of Martin's own books, I should have refused at all risks to receive it; but in this book there can be no heresy. It contains the gospel, which even Martin's enemies declare he has delivered pure."

"It is enough for me, Helena, and it ought to satisfy you, that the Church delivers the gospel to us in due measure and yet more, that the Word is here sent abroad clothed in a language in which it is not the will of the Church that it should be offered. If it be blasphemous to debase the gospel by translating it into a tongue which the meanest of the people may understand, it is surely daring, too daring, for one who is the spouse of Christ, to read what is thus translated. If Luther and Melancthon will thus defy the Church, it is not for us to encourage their heresy."

Helena closed the book and changed the subject.

"How little did I think," said she, "when I took the vows, a year ago, how soon they would be broken!"

"And little did you imagine how easily you could bear to have them broken, Helena. This parting vesper service, which has wrung my soul, has not grieved yours."

"Yes," said Helena, “I felt grief when I kissed the relics for the last time, and when I looked on the crucifix which must be carried away to-morrow. But then, Liese, I remembered Nuremberg. Nurse Bohrla's voice was in my ears, and I thought of my garden, where the plants I was so fond of cannot all have died, and of the singing birds, which nurse vowed to keep for my sake. I hope there is no sin in remembering these things. I am sure I said my

prayers much better at nurse's knee when a child 'than I have ever done here: and I have never known so much of God within these walls, as I learned among my roses by the river side. Father Gottfried is very wise and very pious, I' know; but I learned quite as much religion as he has ever taught me, when our old John lifted me up that I might see the becs at work in the hive, and when he told me legends of the Saints as we sat in the shade, angling for trout in the stream that runs past our garden. The swallows under the eaves have been a great comfort to me here. I have often been sorry to leave them for one of Father Gottfried's homilies."

"If you feel thus," said Liese, "I cannot wonder that some of our sisters, who have parents and brethren, seem more ready to depart than even yourself. I had hoped that a life of devotion had been more precious to you all.”

"O, Liese, if you knew all, you would not say so, nor look on me with such severe compassion. You force from me now what I meant never to say to any one but my confessor. Do you know, I have long been wondering what has become of my devotion, and I hope I shall find that it has only been laid asleep in this dull place. I am not like you: I cannot be pious in all places and times alike; and I cannot tell you how miserable this has made me, whenever I thought of my vows. I am very weak, very childish; and I believe I shall feel more fervor in my prayers the first night that I shut myself into my own little chamber at Nuremberg, than, with all my efforts, I have felt for these many months. I could almost thank Martin himself if he could help me better than my confessor has done; and it was because I saw something about prayer in that book that I was tempted to open it again. I wish you would let me tell you what I saw.”

Si

For this, however, there was no time, all the sisters being punctually summoned to the refectory, where the delegate of the magistrates was entertained with due honor. lenced by the unaccustomed presence of a stranger, the sisters were not slow in obeying the signal to withdraw when the meal was ended.

"This night, at least, I may spend in peace," thought Liese, as she closed her breviary, and extinguished her lamp. "Heaven only knows when I may again be self-collected as it is my wont to be here;" and she opened her lattice that she might look abroad, as far as the grating allowed her, upon the star-lit scenery, and be fanned by the night-breeze before she lay down to dream of heresy and the perils of the world.

She was awakened by the trampling of horses in the courtyard, and perceived immediately that the escort had arrived which was to conduct the members of the sisterhood to their various destinations, and that the gates of the convent were now thrown open, never again to be closed. She hastened her preparations for departure, carefully securing her crucifix in her bosom, and hiding the new bible of Luther, which she intended to leave behind, in a corner where it could not easily be found.

Helena, equipped for the journey, came presently to assist her.

'You carry your new bible in your bosom," said she, not seeing it in company with the breviary. Liese pointed with a smile to the place where she had concealed it.

"Nay, but remember," said Helena, "that the delegate has orders to see that none of us leave the convent without a copy of this book. Besides, it will prove your best passport every where."

This was true; and as the family of relatives to whom Liese was going had embraced the reformed faith, she ac

knowledged that she should consult her own peace best by providing herself with what might otherwise be forced upon her. She also consented to be gone without delay, rather that she might avoid witnessing the further desecration of the place, than from any sympathy in Helena's impatience. Having received the tearful benediction of the Superior of the convent, and whispered something to the sisters about re-assembling in happier days, Liese and Helena mounted their horses, and, followed by their escort, took the road which led down the mountain, and wound through the champaign, which they must traverse on their way to Nuremberg.

*

It was long before Liese could at all reconcile herself to her new abode. In the various members of the family with whom she lived she found intelligent and amiable companions; friends on whose goodness she could depend, and for whose kindness she was grateful, but whose religious sympathy she shunned. The more she became aware how superior they were to the convent community in understanding, and in all companionable qualities, the more she feared their gaining any influence over her, as they had embraced the reformed doctrines in the fullest extent in which they had then been made known.

Pitying the sensitive state of nerves in which Liese appeared to be, and respecting her isolated situation as to spiritual concerns, the family of the Hüsens treated her with a consideration which even her grateful soul was unable fully to appreciate, since she knew not how generally and how vehemently the reformers indulged in invective and railing satire against the church of which she remained a member. No such invective, no such ridicule reached the ears of Liesc; and she, on her part, avoided giving offence, by abstaining altogether from the mention of religious subjects.