To-day had been rainy and wet, but towards evening the sky cleared up, and Carmen led little Frieda home from the school-house.  On her return she took a roundabout path, and slackened her usually fleet steps to enjoy the fresh, balmy spring air.  She passed into a lonely lane, bordered on either side with beautiful gardens, whose hedges were unfolding their first blossoms, filling the air with sweetest perfume.  As she stooped to pick some lovely violets which peeped up from the wayside, she, all at once, felt as if some one was standing behind her, although no footfall had reached her ear.  She raised herself hastily from her stooping posture, and as she did so, felt a man’s strong arm passed around her, and in another second she was pressed violently to his breast.  She strove to cry out for help, but voice and tongue failed her, as she turned and met Brother Jonathan’s burning glance; and there seemed to thrill through her, under the touch of his arm, the same creeping, numbing horror that she felt when the snake coiled about her arm.  But how changed he looked!  His whole countenance seemed lighted up by a new expression, and eager, passionate words poured from his lips.

“Carmen, so young, so warm-hearted, why can you not respond to a love which is offered to you with all the intensity of a true heart?  You see in me only the grave, elderly man who wants you for his wife, and therefore you reject him.  But, Carmen, under this calm exterior you will find an ardent lover, who desires to win you, that he may make for you a heaven on earth, and fill your life with such unutterable bliss as you have never dreamed of.  Oh, Carmen, do not say me nay; but lay your lovely head upon my breast, and believe that my heart throbs wildly and deeply for you only.  Look in my eyes, and let the love you read there serve to kindle a like feeling in you.  Have you forgotten that we must love one another, we Brothers and Sisters?  Give me your love, then, my darling, and say you will be mine!”

Rendered powerless to move by his pitiless embrace, she seemed like a little bird doomed to death by the irresistible fascination of a serpent.  Quickly, passionately, his hot breath scorching her bloodless lips, he kissed her again and again.  With a sudden powerful effort she tore herself from his arms, retreated a few steps, and turning on him a countenance ablaze with scorn and indignation, she cried: 

“Back, villain!  How dare you venture to insult me thus?  Approach one step nearer, and I will cry out so that heaven and earth will fly to my succor.”

She stood before him, so proud and haughty, so intensely excited, that he dared not venture farther.

“I will not approach you again, Carmen, if it displeases you; and forgive my violence just now,” he pleaded earnestly.  “But promise to give yourself to me, Carmen; you are not by nature cold; you will, you must return my love.  Let me teach you what real happiness is; you may imagine it, but you cannot come near the reality.”