eathen girl, the sister of Philip the skeptic.

Euryale loved Melissa, but far dearer to her was the book to whose
all-important contents the maiden seemed to have closed her heart in
coldness.

It was for Melissa's sake that, when the high-priest's dwelling was
searched by the new magistrate's spies from cellar to garret, she had
patiently submitted to her husband's hard words. She had liked to think
that she might bring this girl as a pure white lamb into the fold of the
Good Shepherd, who to herself was so dear, and through whom her saddened
life had found new charm, her broken heart new joys. A few hours since
she had assured her friend Origen that she had found a young Greek who
would prove to him that a heathen who had gone through the school of
suffering with a pure and compassionate heart needed but a sign, a word
of flame, to recognize at once the beatitude of Christianity and long
to be baptized. And here she discovered the maiden of whom she had such
fair hopes, with a smile on her lips and beaming looks, while so many
innocent men were being slaughtered, as though this were a joy to her!

What had become of the girl's soft, tender heart, which but yesterday
had been ready for self-sacrifice if only she might secure the
well-being of those she loved? Was she, Euryale, in her dotage, that she
could be so deceived by a child?

Her heart beat faster with disappointment; and yet she would not condemn
the sinner unheard. So, with a swift impulse she took the roll up from
Melissa's lap, and her voice was sorrowful rather than severe as she
exclaimed:

"I had hoped, my child, that these scriptures might prove to you, as to
so many before you, a key to open the gates of eternal truth. I thought
that they would comfort you, and teach you to love the sublime Being
whose exemplary life and pathetic death are no longer unknown to
you, since Johanna told you the tale. Nay, I believed that they might
presently arouse in you the desire to join us who--"

But here she stopped, for Melissa had fallen on her neck, and while
Euryale, much amazed, tried to release herself from her embrace, the
girl cried out, half laughing and half in tears:

"It has all come about as you expected! I will live and die faithful
to that sublime Saviour, whom I love. I am one of you--yes, mother,
now--even before the baptism I long for. For I was weary and heavy-laden
above any, and the word of the Lord hath refreshed me. This book has
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