y you now. I am strong now, strong--very strong
since I can say so much. I am come to be with you to the last, and, if
it be possible, to die with you; and you shall not refuse me. You shall
not--oh, you will not--you can not--"

And, as she spoke, she clung to him as one pleading herself for life to
the unrelenting executioner. He replied, in a sarcasm, true to his
general course of life.

"Yes, Ellen! your revenge for your wrongs would not be well complete,
unless your own eyes witnessed it; and you insist upon the privilege as
if you duly estimated the luxury. Well!--you may stay. It needed but
this, if anything had been needed, to show me my own impotence."

"Cruel to the last, Guy--cruel to the last! Surely the few hours between
this and that of death, are too precious to be employed in bitterness.
Were not prayer better--if you will not pray, Guy, let me. My prayer
shall be for you; and, in the forgiveness which my heart shall truly
send to my lips for the wrongs you have done to me and mine, I shall not
altogether despair, so that you join with me, of winning a forgiveness
far more important and precious! Guy, will you join me in prayer?"

"My knees are stiff, Ellen. I have not been taught to kneel."

"But it is not too late to learn. Bend, bow with me, Guy--if you have
ever loved the poor Ellen, bow with her now. It is her prayer; and, oh,
think, how weak is the vanity of this pride in a situation like yours.
How idle the stern and stubborn spirit, when men can place you in
bonds--when men can take away life and name--when men can hoot and hiss
and defile your fettered and enfeebled person! It was for a season and a
trial like this, Guy, that humility was given us. It was in order to
such an example that the Savior died for us."

"He died not for me. I have gained nothing by his death. Men are as bad
as ever, and wrong--the wrong which deprived me of my right in
society--has been as active and prevailing a principle of human action
as before he died. It is in his name now that they do the wrong, and in
his name, since his death, they have contrived to find a sanction for
all manner of crime. Speak no more of this, Ellen; you know nothing
about it. It is all folly."

"To you, Guy, it may be. To the wise all things are foolish. But to the
humble heart there is a truth, even in what are thought follies, which
brings us the best of teachings. That is no folly which keeps down, in
the even posture of humility,