ight. Perhaps it is from the
approach of death, which since yesterday has seemed to draw
very near to me; and to one who has suffered as I have
suffered, death, if it could be robbed of its terror, ought
not to be very dreadful. I have often said, 'Would that I
could lay myself down and die;' but now, now that I see death
coming in its stern reality, I would fain shrink from it; and
yet nothing but the cold hand of death will ever still the
passionate throbbings of my heart, and teach it to love less
wildly, or to hate less fiercely. Forgive me, forgive me, Mr.
Lacy! Oh, do not turn away from me! God has sent you to me as
an angel of mercy, not as the minister of his wrath. You bade
me confess my sins. See, I confess them! I will kneel to you!"
and Ellen, in spite of Mr. Lacy's efforts to prevent her,
flung herself on the ground at his feet, and clung to them in
an agony of tears. He instantly raised her, and, replacing her
on the sofa, with a voice of authority desired her to be calm,
and to compose herself. She obeyed, and in a few minutes, and
with an altered manner, she again addressed him. "I cannot
confess my sins without revealing the history of my life; my
guilt and my sorrows are so closely linked together, that they
cannot be separated: but I wish to keep no secret from you--you
have brought a vision of peace and of hope before me; and
perhaps, when you know how miserable I have been, though how
guilty, you may not think me utterly unworthy of it."

"None are unworthy of pardon in the eyes of our adorable
Saviour," said Mr. Lacy, "who heartily repent and sue for it;
but remember that we must forgive as we hope to be forgiven."

"Since I have seen you and heard you," said Ellen, "I can
pray, I dare pray, and I will pray that God may change my
heart, and teach me to forgive as I hope to be forgiven: and
now as I am not strong enough to speak much at a time, and
that I wish to open my heart to you without reserve, I will
put into your hands a history of my life, which, during days
of solitude and nights of weary watchings, I have written--and
which will disclose to you all the secrets of my soul; it is
the most complete confession I can make. When you have read
it, Mr. Lacy, you will return to me. By that time, perhaps,
the grace of God will have quelled the storms within me, and I
may then hear from your lips the blessed words of absolution."

The following history was contained in the manuscript which
Mr