est to bless our union!--Is it not
so--am I not right?'"

Paula, deeply blushing, bowed assent; but the old woman drew her head on
to her motherly bosom, and went on thoughtfully:

"I saw him drive past in his quadriga, and was reminded of many a noble
statue of the heathen Greeks. Beauty, rank, wealth, aye--and talents and
intellect--all that could ruin the heart of a Paula are his, and she--I
see it plainly--will give it to him gladly."

And again the maiden bowed her head. The abbess sighed, and went on as
though she had with difficulty succeeded in submitting to the inevitable
"Then all warning would be in vain.--Still, he is not of our confession,
he. . . ."

"But how highly he esteems it!" cried Paula. "That he proves by risking
his freedom and life for you and your household."

"Say rather for you whom he loves," replied the other. "But putting that
out of the question, it pains me deeply to think of Thomas' daughter as
the wife of a Jacobite. You will not, I know, give him up; and the Father
of Love often leads true love to good ends by wonderful ways, even though
they are ways of error, passing through pitfalls and abysses."

Paula fell on her neck to kiss her gratefully: but the abbess could only
allow the girl a few minutes to enjoy her happiness. She desired her to
sit down by her side, and holding Paula's hand in both her own, she spoke
to her in a tone of calm deliberation. She and her sisterhood, she began
by saying, were deeply indebted to Orion. She had no dearer wish than
that Paula should find the greatest earthly happiness in her marriage;
still, it was her part to tender advice, and she dared not blind herself
to the dangers which threatened this happiness. She herself had a long
life behind her of varied experience, in which she had seen hundreds of
young men who had been given up as lost sinners by father and
mother--lost to the Church and to all goodness--and among these many a
one, like Saul, had had his journey to Damascus. A turning point had come
to them, and the outcast sons had become excellent and pious men.

Paula, as she listened, had drawn closer to the speaker, and her eyes
beamed with joy; but the elder woman shook her head, and her gaze grew
more devout and rapt, as she went on with deep solemnity:

"But then, my child, in all of these Grace had done its perfect work; the
miracle was accomplished which we term regeneration. They were still the
same men in the flesh and in the