Toward the close of September, a group of young children might be seen clustering around an old man, at the edge of the forest, within a stone’s throw of the Church of the Nativity.  They were listening eagerly and delightedly to the patriarch they had surrounded, in whom we recognize Father Omehr.  The faces of the infant band were bright with innocence and that happy alchemy which turns the merest toy to a costly treasure.  There was a tender piety on the features of those children that moved the heart.  Devotion lies upon the face of youth with a peculiar fitness.  As we see it dwelling in that unsullied abode, we remember how the cheek of the Madonna is pressed against the infant in her arms.  Their instructor seemed to have caught a portion of their light-heartedness.  Sad recollections and gloomy anticipations were forgotten.  The throes of the empire and dangers of the Church intruded not; for a moment, the aged missionary felt the elasticity of childhood, and, as his heart was as pure, his face became as bright as theirs.

“Perhaps you have thought, my children,” the priest was saying, while his hand rested lightly upon the head of the nearest boy, “perhaps you have thought at times, that had you been little children at Jerusalem when our Saviour entered the city in triumph, and the people went forth to meet Him with palm-branches, you too would have run to welcome Him, and laid fruits and pretty flowers at His feet.  Perhaps you have thought that you would have offered Him some refreshing drink as He tottered under His cross up the hill of Calvary; that you would have embraced Him and wept most piteously when He fainted away in agony.  How delightful would it have been to receive a smile from your suffering Lord!  You have still the very same opportunity, my children, you would have had at Jerusalem.  You can still run to meet your Redeemer!  He loves the flowers of a pure heart better than those which make the green fields as beautiful as the blue sky with its stars; and He values the tears we shed for our sins more than the pain we should have felt to see Him suffer.  Still continue to bring the fruits and flowers of piety and obedience to your parents to Jesus, and you will be permitted to wait upon Him in heaven for all eternity.

“Go, now, and play!  And when the bell rings, come quietly to the church.”

Not until his little flock had dispersed did Father Omehr perceive that the Lady Margaret was standing almost at his side.

The Lady Margaret has changed since we saw her return the parting salute of Rodolph and Henry.  Her cheek has grown brighter, but her brow is smoother and paler.  Her face is sweeter than ever, though still more melancholy.  It may have been the balminess of the afternoon, solicitude for her brother’s return, or a transient feeling, that controlled the expression of the maiden’s face, but it seemed to have still less of earth in its exquisite proportions, and her eye was softer and deeper.