and they were to occupy a little house Don Ramon selected for them not far from his own home.

Ah, why was he again so blind and so blundering!

When it became known that a heretic was in charge of the public school, many of the children were taken out, and the cura established a parochial school. But most of them returned one by one, to learn the beautiful songs that the new teacher taught; songs of their country, their own beloved country; the songs of Jesus, too, were sweet, though the mothers wished there were some to the blessed Holy Virgin. The cura found, alas, the town was growing heretic, spite of all he could do.

One morning, while the young teacher was occupied with classes, the priest stood suddenly in the door.

The children, startled, drew together. Frederico stepped to meet him and bade him enter.

"Yes, I enter!" was the reply, "even the abode of an heretic, that I may warn these dear young children. These innocents know not their danger. Their parents are the guilty ones. Their souls are already condemned! But, children, I do not my duty if I warn not once again! Terrible

things will happen if ye continue to receive instruction from this heretic teacher. He teaches contrary to the doctrines of the Holy Church, and she says that no one can be saved outside the Church. This teacher, then, will be lost, and ye, too, if ye continue to listen to him. This man teaches, moreover, from the Protestant Bible, which is false. This is not the true Bible. Let me prove it to ye. For example”—

"Children, what is the first command

ment?"

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me.'"

"Right-now the second?"

""Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image” ”

"Stop there, children! Thus teaches the Protestant Bible, and this shows its falseness. The second commandment is, "Tho: shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.'"

"What is the third, children?"

66 "Thou shalt not take' "—

"No, no-that is the second commandment. Let me repeat-the third command. ment is:

'Remember the Sabbath day,' etc.

"The fourth is, 'Honor thy father and thy mother.'

"The fifth is, "Thou shalt not kill.'

"The sixth is, "Thou shalt not commit adultery.'

"The seventh is, "Thou shalt not steal.' "The eighth is, "Thou shalt not bear false witness.'

"The ninth is, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife,' etc.

"The tenth is, "Thou shalt not covet anything that is thy neighbor's.'

"This, children, shows ye how the Protestants have perverted even the Ten Commandments, inserting as the second commandment what is not in the original, or true, Bible.

"Even the true Bible is not to be read alone by common people. It must be explained by the priests, much less, then, is the Protestant Bible to be read. This teacher uses not the catechism of the Holy Church. How, then, can he teach the truth? The Bible does not contain all instruction necessary for salvation. Indeed, were every copy in the world to be destroyed, it would not matter. The traditions and other teachings of the Church are inspired and contain the doctrines of eternal life fully as much as does the Bible. "I see thou hast one of these heretic Bibles here!" added the cura, turning to

ward the teacher's desk. "I will take it!" But the young maestro was too quick for him.

"Hand it over to me!" demanded the priest.

"It is my property," was the quiet reply. The whole town was astir with the story of the encounter and how the slim young man ordered the priest to leave in such tone that he obeyed.

"That quiet young man was strong enough and brave enough to meet and to conquer the cura!" said Don Ramon that night, while his daughter sat by his side.

"Then he is strong and brave enough to take and to keep my daughter," he added in husky tone as to himself.

And she, listening, bowed her head and blushed.

Oh, the old man had not been so stupid and so blind after all.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE POWER OF THE PRIESTHOOD.

The next Sabbath, there was read, from the church pulpit, the names of those excommunicated; and, heading the list, was the town mayor and the young heretic teacher.

"Oh, my people!" cried the cura, in tremulous tones. "Terrible things are yet to be visited upon this town because ye dare defy God's holy priest. Ye defy not me, but the Holy Church and the Almighty, whose representatives we are. Ye seem to have forgotten the powers of God's holy priests.

"In order to give to his priests the power of saying mass, our Lord Jesus had to die. To redeem the world, it was necessary that our Lord should die. A single drop of his sacred blood, a single tear, a single prayer of his would have sufficed. But in order to establish the priesthood, our Lord Jesus had to die.

"On Mount Calvary, the priest that offered the sacrifice was our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and in the holy sacrifice of