THE gay soirée, however, from which Bertha had hoped so much, did not seem to have made any impression upon Rudolph von Feldheim. He looked as grave the next day as if their last meeting had been at a funeral. The fact was, he was reflecting on the task which had been laid upon him. He hardly knew how to set about converting Bertha, for she studiously avoided all mention of their respective forms of worship, and never expressed the slightest disapprobation of his religion. Her beauty, to which he could not be blind, the sweetness of her manners, and her evident regard for him, won upon him daily, and he felt sorry to disturb the serenity of her mind. Yet was not hers a false peace? Was she not living in error of the true faith? And should he be so careless of her best interests as not to endeavour to rescue her soul from perdition?

After a long and somewhat awkward silence, as they sat alone, the day after the ball, he said:

"Bertha, I know that theology is not exactly a subject to propound to young ladies, yet I cannot believe that you are so frivolous as many of your sex, and care for nothing but the evanescent pleasures of society. You have mind and intellect-these noblest gifts of God; have you ever thought of employing them on seriously reflecting on matters of high import ?"

To what matters do you allude, Rudolph? I certainly hope that I am not quite such a fool as to care for nothing but dress and dancing." "Dress and dancing are harmless in themselves, if they do not occupy too much time," he replied, with a smile. "There is no reason that you should debar yourself from them. It is not of these trifles that I was thinking. I would speak of the state of your heart-your feelingsyour

He stopped abruptly, and gazed intently on her.

Bertha felt her heart, which he had just mentioned, flutter and beat fast.

"This is a solemn beginning," she thought; "but he is peculiar in everything." She only answered him, however, by an inquiring look. "Do not be offended, dear Bertha," he continued; "I was going to say-your faith.”

"My faith!" she repeated, without the slightest surprise, and in a tone that showed him she was not thinking of what he had said.

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"Your religious faith. Daughter of my benefactor!" he exclaimed, fervently. Oh, believe me, there is no salvation without the pale of the Church! And can I see you-you, Bertha, in whom I take so warm

an interest-drifting on like a bark to destruction, to be finally engulphed in a sea of error ?"

The young countess turned pale.

"Rudolph," she said, as the tears started to her eyes, "accept my grateful thanks for the interest you take in me. You cannot think how precious it is to the poor orphan, who has scarcely any one to care what becomes of her."

This answer sent a pang to Rudolph's heart; he had expected to see her eyes flashing fire, and to be haughtily reminded that she was the best judge of her own conduct, and desired no interference with her opi

nions.

"The father of the fatherless will care for you, sweet Bertha," he replied, gently and kindly. "And oh! cast not from you that divine protection! Let me, the friend of your childhood, lead you 'forth beside the waters of comfort,' and to the 'green pasture.' Oh! that your soul could be converted, and that you could be brought into the paths of righteousness!" He clasped his hands, and looked imploringly at her.

"I know that every being who walks this earth is sinful in the sight of God," she replied, in a low voice, "and I have many, many faults to be forgiven. But, Rudolph, you speak as if I were steeped in guilt; what have I done, that you should have formed such an opinion of me?" "You have done nothing but follow, in contented ignorance and supineness, the unfortunate path of error on which you were launched by those who were themselves blinded to the truth. Oh, Bertha! will you listen to me?"

He took her hand for one moment, and pressed it to his heart.

“I will, Rudolph. What do you wish-what do you ask of me?" "That you will not allow your judgment to be obscured by the clouds of prejudice, that you will think and act for yourself, that you will not permit your cousin's influence to erect a barrier between you and what is for your own real interest and happiness."

"My cousin's influence? Ah, Rudolph! you little know how small that is compared to-to your own. If she tried, she could not prejudice me against you; but, to do her justice, she has never attempted anything of the kind."

"Then I have less to contend with than I thought. Tell me, Bertha, do you believe that the faith you profess is infallible?"

"Faith again!" thought Bertha. "I wish he would come straight to the point." But she replied, "No, I do not believe anything with which human nature has to do can be infallible."

"You are right," said he. "Therefore a Church founded by erring mortals cannot be the true one; the Church of Christ alone is infallible."

"All Christians claim to belong to the Church of Christ," said the

countess.

"Do you think that the many sects who are constantly springing up -persons who embrace and inculcate the wildest tenets, the worst principles-principles in utter opposition to all religious and moral law-are Christians and members of the Church of Christ because they arrogate that name to themselves ?"

"No, certainly I do not."

me,

"Then let me point out to you that the true Church must be that one which was established by Jesus Christ himself, and through which for more than eighteen hundred years his doctrines have been promulgated. Our Lord, before he finished his gracious mission on earth, made choice of certain persons, on whom he bestowed an accurate knowledge of all that concerned the kingdom of God, in as far, at least, as it was fitting for beings still in the flesh to know of it. He gave them a special commission to teach the rest of mankind, and to appoint teachers to succeed them, promising that He would be with their successors till the end of the world. His very words were, "Lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.' And again he said to these teachers, in reference to the true Church, He that heareth heareth you and he that despiseth you despiseth me.' It is evident that the Lord appointed the Church to be his messenger to mankind, and that by false teachers and false prophets, of whom he warned the faithful, he intended to predict the future existence of men who should take upon themselves to disturb and calumniate that Church, to introduce their own unauthorised opinions, and presumptuously set themselves up as lights to the world. Of such are Luther, Zuinglius, Jerome Huss, Calvin, and many others. Those whom these men have misled are undoubtedly in error; they are aliens from the true Churchthe Church of apostolic succession. How can they expect to be accepted by Christ, when they deny him in denying the Church which He founded upon earth, and approved and blessed? That very holy symbol, the sign of the cross, which has been reverenced for ages, these free-thinkers disregard and ridicule. Bertha, my heart grieves that you should be one of these lost sheep. Oh return to the true fold! Oh let the sheltering arms of holy love enfold you! Rise up, my love, my fair one, and

6

Had Bertha been as well versed in the Bible as her cousin Mrs. Lindsay was, she would have recognised the last glowing apostrophe to be a quotation from the Song of Solomon, and entirely uttered in a figurative or spiritual sense. But Solomon's Song never entered her brain; probably she had never studied that not very instructive portion of the Scriptures.

She paused in doubt, surprise, and something very much akin to joy; then she said, with a sigh,

Rudolph, pray be a little more explicit. You bid me come away;' where should I go?"

Rudolph perceived in a second that he had been misunderstood. He felt himself in a dilemma. He hesitated for a few moments, and then said, calmly and gravely,

"I did not mean to suggest your removing anywhere; I meant your joining the Church of which I am an unworthy member."

The expression of Bertha's face suddenly changed, but before she had recovered sufficient self-command to say one word, her Roman Catholic friend put into her hand a small volume, which he begged her to oblige him by reading.

"Read this carefully, dear Bertha. Ask counsel from no one, judge impartially, and may the Holy Spirit guide you to a right comprehension of what is so important to you; and, may I add, so anxiously desired by me."

Rudolph left her, and the countess sat for a short time lost in thought; at length she said to herself,

"I wonder if all Roman Catholics make everything in life subservient to their religion? How can Rudolph be so bigoted? That dreadful uncle of mine must have contrived to warp his judgment, as well as to cast that painful gloom over his once gay and buoyant spirit. He means well, however, therefore I shall read his book."

II.

THE ILL-TIMED INTRUSION.

Ir was some days before Bertha and her self-constituted Mentor met again alone. Mrs. Lindsay, though she perceived that her presence was by no means welcome to Rudolph, and though she had no predilection for his society, considered it her duty to watch over her cousin, and leave her as little exposed as possible to "Papist machinations."

marry

"That Von Feldheim does not care a hundredth part so much for her as she does for him," she said to herself. "He is the coolest lover that ever I saw, if lover he be at all, which I don't believe. He will never her unless she turns Roman Catholic, and even were she to do that, I think it is a chance if he does not give her the go-by. There is something very mysterious about him, something sinister, which I don't like. But I don't think he is plotting for Bertha's money, though. I will do the man the justice to say he does not seem a fortune-hunter. If she must needs marry one of her own countrymen, I wish she would choose that very pleasant, amiable young man, Count Rosenthal; he is a Protestant, and with him she would be safe from being either driven or enticed into Romanism."

Mrs. Lindsay was not the only individual in Bertha's house who looked with suspicion on poor Rudolph. Old Andrew had many misgivings in his own mind; he thought there was something "no just cannie about him." Andrew asked himself what good there could be in a "chiel" who was a follower of "the man of sin" (by which he meant to designate the Pope), and prayed to the saints, and fancied he could buy his salvation from the priests; why, he was hardly a bit wiser than a Hindoo or an Indian savage. The old Scotchman would then reflect with much complacency on his own superior Presbyterian knowledge, and betake himself to study "the shorter catechism," though he knew almost every line in its numerous pages by heart. However, whatever he thought, he was much too faithful and too much attached to the leddies" to breathe to living ear one syllable of his doubts, fears, animadversions, or speculations.

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The first morning that Rudolph found Mrs. Lindsay out of the way when he called, he lost no time in asking Bertha about the religious work he had lent to her. She told him that she had read it attentively, that she had not shown it or mentioned it to her cousin, and that she had reflected upon its contents, but could not agree with them.

"I do not wish to annoy you, Rudolph," she added, “therefore I shall say nothing."

"You will not annoy me," he replied; "I wish to hear your objec

tions; how can I refute them if I do not? Perhaps I shall be able to explain to your satisfaction passages that may have caused you some surprise."

"I am not capable of arguing with you," she said; "but though you may be able to make the worse appear the better cause,' you will not succeed in making me believe anything against my own conviction. You have no idea how obstinate I am."

Rudolph smiled: "Obstinacy is a failing that generally accompanies weakness of mind. You are not weak-minded. Come, now, do tell me some of your objections to the book?"

"Well, then," said Bertha, rather impatiently, "I think it is nothing but sophistry from beginning to end. The book insinuates that the Church is to be the standard of belief and not the Bible. The doctrines agreed upon and the rules drawn up by this council and that, are to take precedence of the Gospel and the works of the inspired writers. You may think that popes, and cardinals, and priests are better guides in religion than the Scriptures, but I do not.”

"You think, then, that educated and uneducated-all should read and interpret the Scriptures for themselves? That none need assistance from divines or spiritual guides-in fact, that the Church should be merely a sort of empty form, and that teachers of the word of God can perfectly well be dispensed with? The study of religion, Bertha, requires deeper thought and more time than the pursuit of any science; yet you would infer that the most common and illiterate person, whose whole life, perhaps, has been devoted to labouring with his hands for his daily bread, if he could spell the words of the Bible, would be as capable of understanding it as those who have read it in its original language, who have studied all the works of the fathers of the Church, and the commentaries of the most highly-gifted men. Tell me," he continued, "do you understand everything in the Bible? The prophecies of the Old Testament, for instance, or the Book of Revelation ?"

No, of course I do not, and I don't believe the most learned divine -Catholic or Protestant-can understand the whole of the Revelations."

"Well, you Protestants think the Bible should be put into everybody's hands. Have you read the whole Bible through ?"

Bertha shook her head.

"I must confess I have not."

"I am rejoiced to hear it; there are several passages in the Bible which are quite unfit for the perusal of any pure-minded woman. You mistake us, Bertha, we do not deny the Scriptures; our Church only seeks to interpret them properly to the laity. The inquirer into the important science of salvation ought not to believe whatever suggests itself to his own fancy, but ought rather to seek for a wise director and spiritual guide, and depend in all things on his advice."

"And give up, then, all liberty of conscience, all exercise of thought become a sort of animated automaton-a tool, a mental slave ?"

"It is our duty to submit to the teaching of those who are of greater sanctity, and have more knowledge than ourselves. Remember that humility is one of the most necessary of the Christian graces, and that the most dangerous of all temptations is that which would incline us to