Notwithstanding its being the month of September, a burning July heat prevailed, and, as a breath of wind would occasionally stir, great clouds of dust rose from the streets and lanes of the settlement.  But in spite of the intense warmth of the sun, masons and carpenters were busily at work on Brother Mauer’s house, which was located in a pleasant district on the outskirts of the town.  From the windows on the first floor, which stood quite high from the ground, one could catch a fine view of the broad, sunny landscape.  There was the green meadow-land, with its duck-pond, and beyond, round the road to the old mill in the valley, the steep path leading uphill to the graveyard, and finally, away off towards the south, great masses of dense forest, rising one above the other, covering the mountain-sides and shutting out all that lay beyond.

“So that will be your room dear father, and this one next to it mine,” said Carmen, pleasantly, as she and the old man wandered about in the bright morning air over the grounds and through the partially finished building which was to be their home.

“How pretty it will be here, father!  I will raise vines all around the windows, so that, in summer, a pretty shade will fall in the rooms; and even though we are not allowed to have any ornaments, a cabinet of books will be here, and by the window shall stand a table with a vase of flowers on it, while over there I will make a cosey little nook, like the one Frau von Trautenau has in her room.  And then when evening comes, dear father, you shall sit by me, and tell me of the snow-capped Himalayas, and the wonders of the East Indian world.  Or when the lamp is lighted, I will read to you, just as I did to Frau von Trautenau in her dear little nook.”

“How often you speak of that lady, Carmen!  Is she so very dear to you?” asked Mauer.

“Yes, very dear, father,” she replied eagerly, and the warmth of her feelings betrayed itself in her countenance.  “She was very, very kind to me; and with her, I, who was so lonely, felt how good it must be to look into a mother’s eyes.  I could always turn to her for sympathy and advice, feeling sure of being understood; and that was a great comfort to me, when I thought you never would return, father.  She is not grave and austere, like our Sisters here, but is in all things noble and good; and even though she belongs to those who are outside in the world, yet anyone following her could not go wrong.  The world!” she continued thoughtfully.  “We are all of this world as long as we live.  How can one set of people consider themselves so much better than the others?”

“We do not think ourselves better, child, but on a surer road to become so,” interrupted the father.  “And yet, even with us, there are no insurmountable barriers to keep us from straying into the by-paths which lead us away from the goal!” he added, with a sigh.

“Yes father,” she said, with a fond smile.  “That is just what I say.  The right way and the wrong, cross each other everywhere in life, and we must ever be striving more and more to distinguish between them.”