“It gladdens my heart, dear sister, to know it gives you such great joy to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord,” he replied.  “Truly it is a blessed privilege to be able to lose one’s self in the contemplation of holy things, and, forgetting the cares of this present life, rejoice in the hope of heaven, and be as one dead to every temporal joy.”

“But I was not thinking at all of the life beyond the grave, only of this present one.  How beautiful it is, and what happiness to be able to enjoy it!” she said candidly, as her youthful countenance lighted up with a glowing expression of love of life and pleasure.

Hers was a singularly beautiful face, on which the man at her side gazed with open admiration.  The close-fitting cap, with its bright red bow, indicated that the girl had not yet reached her eighteenth year.  Here and there peeped out little truant locks of the glossy black hair, whose richness and abundance the close covering could not entirely conceal or fetter.  The broad, intellectual brow; the delicate, pencilled lashes, from the shadow of which shone forth lustrous black eyes that flashed with intelligence and spirit; the arched nose, with its slightly dilated nostrils; pouting mouth, with full, cherry lips, all gave her something of a proud expression, which was, however, softened by the beaming smile which so often lighted it up.  Although only a faint color tinged her cheek, yet the clear, brunette complexion glowed with fresh, warm, young life, and the slender, lithe form that leaned with such childlike abandon against the old tree displayed the most exquisite symmetry.

“Yes, this present life is certainly very pleasant, dear sister,” he resumed, approaching yet nearer to her; and he indeed seemed to find it so as he contemplated this fair, blooming, delightful young creature.  “We do wisely to enjoy it, and use it as a means to prepare us for the great hereafter, accomplishing that end all the more effectually when we love the Lord, and, through Him, one another.  Sister Carmen, did you listen to the beautiful discourse on brotherly and sisterly love which our honored presbyter gave us to-day?” and the speaker bent his head so low that she felt his hot breath on her cheek, and his heavy hand on her shoulder.  But quickly turning aside and withdrawing from his touch, she replied:  “Yes, I heard it, and it is indeed a very good and proper thing to love one another; but I think it is not always love which is called so, or seems so;” and her mouth twitched with a repressed smile, as if some secret thought amused her.

“Dear sister, how can you speak thus?” he said.  “Men, it is true, are weak, and often swerve from their duty; but we should help each other in the spirit of love, so that we may be all united and grow to resemble each other in character.”

“Resemble each other in character!” She repeated his words musingly, and the gaze from her dark eyes wandered away off, beyond her companion.  “Can we ever do that?  God has created us so different; if He had wished us all to be alike, would He not have made us so?”