The child approached, and slipped her hand into his. "Padre Rosendo says this is God's house," she commented, looking up at Josè. "He says you are going to talk about God here--in this dirty, smelly old place! Why don't you talk about Him out of doors?" Josè was becoming innured to the embarrassment which her direct questions occasioned. And he was learning not to dissemble in his replies. "It is because the people want to come here, dear one; it is their custom." Would the people believe that the wafer and wine could be changed into the flesh and blood of Jesus elsewhere--even in Nature's temple? "But _I_ don't want to come here!" she asseverated. "That was a naughty thing to say to the good _Cura_, child!" interposed Don Mario, who had overheard the girl's remark. "You see, Padre, how we need a _Cura_ here to save these children; otherwise the Church is going to lose them. They are running pretty wild, and especially this one. She is already dedicated to the Church; but she will have to learn to speak more reverently of holy things if she expects to become a good Sister." The child looked uncomprehendingly from, one to the other. "Who dedicated her to the Church?" demanded Josè sharply. "Oh, Padre Diego, at her baptism, when she was a baby," replied Don Mario in a matter of fact tone. Josè shuddered at the thought of that unholy man's loathsome hands resting upon the innocent girl. But he made no immediate reply. Of all things, he knew that the guarding of his own tongue was now most important. But his thought was busy with Rosendo's burning words of the preceding day, and with his own solemn vow. He reflected on his present paradoxical, hazardous position; on the tremendous problem which here confronted him; and on his desperate need of wisdom--yea, superhuman wisdom--to ward off from this child the net which he knew the subtlety and cruel cunning of shrewd, unscrupulous men would some day cause to be cast about her. A soul like hers, mirrored in a body so wondrous fair, must eventually draw the devil's most envenomed barbs. To Josè's great relief Don Mario turned immediately from the present topic to one relating to the work of renovation. Finding a pretext for sending Carmen back to the house, the priest gave his attention unreservedly to the Alcalde. But his mind ceased not to revolve the implications in Don Mario's words relative to the girl; and when the midday _siesta_ came upon him his brow was knotted and his eyes gazed vacantly at the manifestations of activity about him. Hurrying across the road to escape the scalding heat, Josè's ears again caught the sound of singing, issuing evidently from Rosendo's house. It was very like the clear, sweet voice which had floated into his room the morning after he awoke from his delirium. He approached the door reverently and looked in. Carmen was arranging the few poor dishes upon the rough table, and as she worked, her soul flowed across her lips in song.