nning and the end are both with God, Raoul. Since the
commencement of time hath he established laws which have brought about
the trials of thy life--the sadness of this very hour."

"And dost thou think he will pardon all thy care of one so unworthy?"

Ghita bowed her head to the mattress over which she leaned, and buried
her face in her hands. When the minute of prayer that succeeded was
over, and her face was again raised with the flush of feeling tempered
by innocence on it, Raoul was lying on his back, his eyes riveted again
on the vault of heaven. His professional pursuits had led him further
into the study of astronomy than comported with his general education;
and, addicted to speculation, its facts had often seized upon his fancy,
though they had failed to touch his heart. Hitherto, indeed, he had
fallen into the common error of limited research, and found a
confirmation of his suspicions in the assumed grasp of his own reason.
The dread moment that was so near could not fail of its influence,
however; and that unknown future over which he hung, as it might be,
suspended by a hair, inevitably led his mind into an inquiry after the
unknown God.

"Dost thou know, Ghita," he asked, "that the learned of France tell us
that all yonder bright stars are worlds, peopled most probably like this
of our own, and to which the earth appears but as a star itself, and
that, too, of no great magnitude?"

"And what is this, Raoul, to the power and majesty of Him who created
the universe? Ah! think not of the things of his hand, but of Him who
made them!"

"Hast thou ever heard, my poor Ghita, that the mind of man hath been
able to invent instruments to trace the movements of all these worlds,
and hath power even to calculate their wanderings with accuracy, for
ages to come?"

"And dost _thou_ know, my poor Raoul, what this mind of man is?"

"A part of his nature--the highest quality; that which maketh him the
lord of earth."

"His highest quality--and that which maketh him lord of earth, in one
sense, truly; but, after all, a mere fragment--a spot on the width of
the heavens--of the spirit of God himself. It is in this sense that he
hath been made in the image of his Creator."

"Thou thinkst then, Ghita, that man is God, after all."

"Raoul!--Raoul! if thou wouldst not see me die with thee, interpret not
my words in this manner!"

"Would it, then, be so hard to quit life in my company, Ghita? To me it
would seem su