hough but once-wandered so far from God's
ways, while Grace has not yet worked effectually in him, we shall do
well to watch his dealings and course for more than a few short days. If
you still feel that you must follow the dictates of your heart, at any
rate do not fly into your lover's open arms, do not abandon to him the
pure sanctuary of your body and soul, do not be wholly his till he has
been fully put to the proof."

"But I believe in him entirely!" cried Paula, with a flood of tears.

"You believe because you love him," replied the abbess.

"And because he deserves it."

"And how long has he deserved it?"

"Was he not a splendid man before his fall?"

"And so was many a murderer. Most criminals become outcasts from society
in a single moment."

"But society still accepts Orion."

"Because he is the son of the Mukaukas."

"And because he wins all hearts!"

"Even that of the Almighty?"

"Oh! Mother, Mother! why do you measure him by the standard of your own
sanctified soul? How few are the elect who find a share of the grace of
which you speak!"

"But those who have sinned like him must strive for it."

"And he does so, Mother, in his way."

"It is the wrong way; wrong for those who have sinned as he has. All he
strives for is worldly happiness."

"No, no. He is firm in his faith in God and the Saviour. He is not a
liar."

"And yet he thinks he may escape the penalty?"

"And does not the Lord pardon true repentance?--He has repented; and how
bitterly, how fearfully he has suffered!"

"Say rather that he has felt the stripes that his own sin brought upon
him.--There are more to come; and how will he take them? Temptation
lurks in every path, and how will he avoid it? As your mother, indeed
it is my duty to warn you: Keep your passion and yourself still under
control; continue to watch him, and grant him nothing--not the smallest
favor, as you are a maiden, before he..."

"Till when; how long am I to be so basely on my guard?" sobbed Paula.
"Is that love which trusts not and is not ready to share the lot even of
the backslider?"

"Yes, child, yes," interrupted the old woman. "To suffer all things, to
endure all things, is the duty of true love, and therefore of yours; but
you must not allow the most indissoluble of all bonds to unite you to
him till the back-slider has learnt to walk firmly. Follow him step by
step, hold him up with faithful care, never despair of him if he seems
other tha