"Impossible, my love!" said Fritz.
"But you see it is already all arranged, and begun to be done," I said; "I am dressed, and the room is all ready to receive her."
Priest Ruprecht rose from the table, and moved towards me, exclaiming fervently,—
"God bless you!" Then seeming to fear that he had said what he had no right to say, he added, "God bless you for the thought. But it is too much!" and he left the room.
"What would you do, Eva?" Fritz said, looking in much perplexity at me.
"Welcome Bertha as a sister," I said, "and nurse her until she is well."
"But how can I suffer you to be under one roof?" he said.
I could not help my eyes filling with tears.
"The Lord Jesus suffered such to anoint his feet," I said, "and she, you told me, loves Him, has given up all dearest to her to keep his words. Let us blot out the past as he does, and let her begin life again from our home, if God wills it so."
Fritz made no further objection. And through the dewy forest paths we went, we three; and with us, I think we all felt, went Another, invisible, the Good Shepherd of the wandering sheep.