Thus the building which had been so beautifully planned, and with so much pleasure, turned out to be, when finished, just like all the others.  But Carmen did not bear the frustration of their cherished hopes as calmly as the old man.  Her visit to Wollmershain, although it had not given rise to any new tastes or dislikes regarding the home customs, had strengthened the long-buried desires which lay within her breast, and quickened her natural spirit of resistance to the existing state of things.  Frau von Trautenau, as well as the style and manner of life at Wollmershain, was peculiarly congenial to her taste.  Therefore, although the visit had never been repeated, she often lived it over again in her thoughts, and in speaking with her father always referred enthusiastically to persons and things there.  One day, while describing the unrestrained and harmonious life of her new friends, the sound of trumpets playing a hymn came wafted in through the open door.

“Who is dead, Carmen?” asked Mauer, listening intently as he sat by the window.  “Is that not the dirge of a bachelor Brother?  I remember the air, as I do that of all our funeral hymns.  How often, when suffering under my bondage as a slave, I have thought that at my death no music would be heard.  But now I know that some day the trumpets will tell to the other brothers when the heart of old Mauer has ceased to beat.”

“Oh, my father, you must not speak thus!” said Carmen, anxiously.  “The person for whom the music is sounding is the bachelor Brother Christopher Yager, who died yesterday evening.  He was the one who spoke in defence of our unmarried sisters in the general council; and now some one will have to be elected in his place.”

This election followed immediately after the funeral, the elders casting votes for those they deemed most suitable for the position.  The majority were in favor of Jonathan Fricke, who was received with universal satisfaction.  No one was more pleased with the result than Sister Agatha, who always depended so much on him for advice.  She felt that now, being able to entrust the affairs of her department to his wisdom and circumspection, his piety and brotherly love, was as if she handed her ship over to the guidance of a skilful and able captain.  He received the honor with great humility, as a duty laid upon him from which he must not shrink, however unworthy he felt to bear the heavy responsibility.  Yet in spite of all his apparent absence of pride, there was something about him which elicited the homage of the Sisters as they gave their promise to be willing to trust him with their confidence and follow his instructions.

CHAPTER IX.