ite dress, I know,
afterwards.'

Philammon recoiled with a groan.

'Unhappy child! May God have mercy on you!'

'Will He not forgive me, then? You have forgiven me. He?--He must be
more good even than you.--Why not?'

'He forgave you then, freely, when you were baptized: and there is no
second pardon unless--

'Unless I leave my love!' shrieked Pelagia.

'When the Lord forgave the blessed Magdalene freely, and told her
that her faith had saved her--did she live on in sin, or even in the
pleasures of this world? No! though God had forgiven her, she could not
forgive herself. She fled forth into the desert, and there, naked and
barefoot, clothed only with her hair, and feeding on the herb of the
field, she stayed fasting and praying till her dying day, never seeing
the face of man, but visited and comforted by angels and archangels. And
if she, she who never fell again, needed that long penance to work out
her own salvation--oh, Pelagia, what will not God require of you, who
have broken your baptismal vows, and defiled the white robes, which the
tears of penance only can wash clean once more?'

'But I did not know! I did not ask to be baptized! Cruel, cruel parents,
to bring me to it! And God! Oh, why did He forgive me so soon? And to go
into the deserts! I dare not! I cannot! See me, how dedicate and tender
I am! I should die of hunger and cold! I should go mad with fear and
loneliness! Oh! brother, brother, is this the Gospel of the Christians?
I came to you to be taught how to be wise, and good, and respected, and
you tell me that all I can do is to live this horrible life of torture
here, on the chance of escaping torture forever! And how do I know that
I shall escape it? How do I know that I shall make myself miserable
enough? How do I know that He will forgive me after all? Is this true,
Miriam? Tell me, or I shall go mad!'

'Yes,' said Miriam, with a quiet sneer. 'This is the gospel and good
news of salvation, according to the doctrine of the Nazarenes.'

'I will go with you!' cried Philammon. 'I will go! I will never leave
you! I have my own sins to wash away!--Happy for me if I ever do
it!--And I will build you a cell near mine, and kind men will teach us,
and the will pray together night and morning, for ourselves and for each
other, and weep out our weary lives together--'

'Better end them here, at once!' said Pelagia, with a gesture of
despair, and dashed herself down on the floor.

Philammon wa