ould have rejoiced had her beauty been torn
from her, and how I should have triumphed in her agony! Oh, wretched,
wretched girl that I am, and she too, she spurred me on, she gloried in
my misery, she gloried in my downfall; and, for revenge, I would have
been glad to have seen her dead at my feet. Do not come near me,
Victorine," she added, "do not pity me, I do not deserve compassion. I
hate and loath myself; would I could show to Lisette my repentance, but
what will that avail me?--The sin is unwashed from my heart, my
conscience drives me to distraction, and there is no peace left for the
miserable, undone, Caliste."

"But nobody need know your thoughts, but Victorine and myself," urged
Mimi; "and we will not tell of you, sister."

"But God knows them," she replied in a hollow voice, that made D'Elsac
start back from the door. "He knows them and I know them, and surely I
shall be punished for them severely."

She ceased; and, hiding her face with her hands, she gave way to violent
emotion. Victorine allowed the first burst to pass away; and then,
putting her arm round her, she gently soothed her by kind words,
entreating her to listen to her. "Dearest Caliste," she said, "when I
told you the Rosiere's crown would bring sorrow to our home, you did not
believe me. Now that you have painfully learnt this lesson, my sister,
surely now you will believe me, when I say I can point out to you a path
to peace. Vile as our hearts are by nature, dear Caliste, yet did our
Lord God _bless_ the sons of Noah, even though he had just declared that
the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. You have done
wrong, Caliste, you have sinned grievously; you have been in darkness and
in error, and you now feel shame and remorse. My sister, that shame is
not of the natural man, it is a gift from God, and He has said, 'When the
poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth
for thirst, I, the Lord, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not
forsake them. And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the
effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever. And my people
shall dwell in a peaceful habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet
resting places.'"

"Ah, Victorine," she replied, "wherefore is it that you alone can sooth
me? wherefore is it, that in listening to you, I hope some day to be at
rest?"

"Because," answered Victorine, "the faith in which I have been rear