Carmen’s lip curled scornfully as he spoke, and the cutting, scathing glance she gave him was enough to wither a braver man than he.  She surmised what he was aiming at, but uttered never a word.  Leaning against her father’s heart, she felt sure of finding there a secure resting-place, and a precious sense of sheltering love made her able to endure anything.  But her proud glance roused Jonathan’s spirit, which grew hotter and hotter under his calm exterior.  Would he be compelled to give her up?

He could not satisfy himself whether his feeling for the girl was love or hate; at any rate, he thought within himself that to bend her pride and destroy her fancied security would afford him infinite satisfaction.

“But she is not betrothed,” said Mauer, when Jonathan ceased speaking.  “I, as her father, am the natural guardian of her destiny.  I have the right to decide.”

“The right, dear Brother?” interposed Jonathan, with a scornful smile.  “That depends.  It could not be granted to every parent in the Brotherhood.”  And as the old man before him dropped his eyes, he added smiling:  “Yet if I asked, for the sake of old times, that you would give me Carmen for my wife, would I be able to gain your consent, as her father?”

It was a helpless, imploring look that Mauer now directed towards his daughter; his hands clasped over hers with a convulsive grasp; his lips moved, as if to speak, but no sound came from them.

Carmen looked at her father in perfect amazement.

“Father, dear father, indeed I cannot become the wife of this man,” she whispered with a beseeching tone.

“Child, cannot you make yourself do it for my sake?” were the words wrung from his lips.

“No, never!  Urge me not, my father; it would bring untold misery on me, and afford happiness to no one.”

A deep flush rose to Jonathan’s brow, and anger and disappointment completely triumphed over self-control.  “You cannot be my wife, Sister Carmen?  Very well; then you will be the wife of Brother Daniel in the land of the Caffres.  Do you think I am going to tolerate your rebellious, stubborn spirit, which is so unsuitable to a member of our community?  Let your father tell you that I have the means in my hands to compel you to decide between the two fates!”

As he spoke, Carmen sprang up, and, drawing herself to her full height, measured him with a proud, contemptuous look; then, as if unable to bring herself to address him, she turned to her father and said calmly:  “Dear father, speak for your child, and protect her!”

She clasped her hands imploringly; while he shook his head in sorrow and grief, but remained silent.

“Father,” she cried, “have you nothing to say?”

No sound issued from his pallid lips; the anguish of his soul was betrayed only in his eyes.

Burying her face in her hands, Carmen now broke down utterly; and Jonathan’s evil countenance gleamed with triumph.  As she appeared before him, bowed in despair and grief, like some beautiful flower crushed by a ruthless hand, his eyes feasted themselves on the lovely girl, who was at last humbled and forced to give herself to him.