prayer and vigil, it may be that you shall
make amends for the great sin you have committed, and live and die in
the peace of the Lord Jesus."

He spoke thus, knowing that if she left him and returned to her
roaming, hunger and fear might drive her to fresh sin; whereas in a
life of penance and reclusion her eyes might be opened to her iniquity,
and her soul snatched back from ruin.

He saw that his words moved her, and she seemed about to consent, and
embrace a life of holiness; but suddenly she fell silent, and looked
down on the valley at their feet.

"A stream flows in the glen below us," she said. "Do you forbid me to
bathe in it in the heat of summer?"

"It is not I that forbid you, my daughter, but the laws of God," said
the Hermit; "yet see how miraculously heaven protects you--for in the
hot season, when your lust is upon you, our stream runs dry, and
temptation will be removed from you. Moreover on these heights there is
no excess of heat to madden the body, but always, before dawn and at
the angelus, a cool breeze which refreshes it like water."

And after thinking long on this, and again receiving his promise not to
betray her, the Wild Woman agreed to embrace a life of reclusion; and
the Hermit fell on his knees, worshipping God and rejoicing to think
that, if he saved his sister from sin, his own term of probation would
be shortened.

VI

THEREAFTER for two years the Hermit and the Wild Woman lived side by
side, meeting together to pray on the great feast-days of the year, but
on all other days dwelling apart, engaged in pious practices.

At first the Hermit, knowing the weakness of woman, and her little
aptitude for the life apart, had feared that he might be disturbed by
the nearness of his penitent; but she faithfully held to his commands,
abstaining from all sight of him save on the Days of Obligation; and
when they met, so modest and devout was her demeanour that she raised
his soul to fresh fervency. And gradually it grew sweet to him to think
that, near by though unseen, was one who performed the same tasks at
the same hours; so that, whether he tended his garden, or recited his
chaplet, or rose under the stars to repeat the midnight office, he had
a companion in all his labours and devotions.

Meanwhile the report had spread abroad that a holy woman who cast out
devils had made her dwelling in the Hermit's cliff; and many sick
persons from the valley sought her out, and went away resto