“How is it possible that you know anything about soldiers?” asked Mauer, astonished at her enthusiasm.

“I met some of them at Wollmershain,” she replied quickly.

“And were they such men as you describe?”

She hesitated a moment.

“No, not all of them.  A man is not always what he ought to be.”

“Wollmershain and Frau von Trautenau:  between the two, your thoughts seem continually to wander, Carmen; everything you say springs from that subject, or leads back to it.  You seem to have received very deep impressions; deeper, I am afraid, than is good for you.”

She did not answer.  Her gaze lingered on the scene before her, watching the troops as they began to file off from the forest.  Suddenly a large body of cavalry wheeled around from a screened corner in the woods, and the spectacle became more and more lively.

Carmen’s face glowed with pleasure, and her eyes moved restlessly hither and thither, as if to take in the whole picture.

“I could sit here all day and watch them,” she said.  “It cannot be late, father, is it?  Sister Agatha told me, when I came away this morning, that I must be back at eleven o’clock for something important.”

“Eleven o’clock!” replied Mauer, looking at his watch.  “Why, my child, it is almost twelve.”

Carmen sprang up quickly.  “Then I must go at once.  What a pity!  I want to stay so much.  Adieu, dear father; I will be with you again this afternoon.”  She embraced and kissed the old man, and hurried away.

Meanwhile an unusual commotion prevailed in the Sisters’ house.  Whenever two met together there was whispering going on; the hands in the work-room rested oftener, and the heads were put together for a softly-spoken word; the eyes wandered about with inquiring glances, or watched the dial of the large clock that quietly ticked on in its usual monotonous fashion.

At last the hands pointed to the appointed hour, and eleven deliberate strokes chimed forth; whereupon the Sisters began to issue forth from every door, and betook themselves to the assembly-room.

Sister Agatha and the recently elected supervisor of the unmarried Sisters, Brother Jonathan, stood in the centre of the room, and near them the teachers and elders.  When all had entered, and an expectant silence prevailed, Jonathan commenced an address to the congregation.

“As you probably already know, dear Sisters, a letter has been received from Brother Daniel, at Cape Colony, in which he informs us of his safe arrival in the country of the Caffres.  He goes on to tell how he has met Brother Joseph Hubner and two other Brothers; and how a little band of devout Christians has begun to spring up, which with the Lord’s help will further the work of rescuing souls from the darkness of heathenism, and win them to the truth.  It is a glorious work which they have so piously undertaken, and blessed is every one who lends them