t is that I find you, mother has a
worse attack of fever and has wept and again begged that we should send
for the clergyman to pray with her." And the small child seized his
hand and dragged him towards the village. He followed her unwillingly
till she led him to a small low house. "Oh Herr Pfarrer," a voice said
from a narrow room, "things will now be better." And the tall pale man
knelt by the side of the sick woman and began a prayer. "The Lord wills
not the death of a sinner but rather that he should turn from his
wickedness and live." His own sorrow did he lay before the Lord. He
whispered into the ear of the sick woman as if telling himself, that
God's Grace was boundless like the waters of the sea, and that he
sustaineth our feet even in the day of trouble when we think we are
sinking. When he had finished he felt more inwardly calm and he
remained for a while sitting in silence near the afflicted woman. Then
he shook himself together in order to fetch the necessary medicine from
the monastery, and to visit the other sick, and after that he had spent
many hours in heavy self sacrificing labor, the beauteous message of
peace was borne to him in the cool breezes of the evening wind whilst
the moon rose calm and tranquil above the pine forests, that we do not
atone for our sins by a few hours of repentance full of anguish and
sleepless nights, but in the real practice of works of charity and care
for the well-being of others, so that the wounds we have healed, are
greater in number than those we have caused.

Paul had spent several days in this earnest restless fulfilment of
duty, joyless but still more peaceful, when a message from the town
awoke once more all the terrors of his conscience. He received a
summons through the bailiffs of the place marked down for the first day
of the following week, in the which he was requested to testify before
the Amtmann in the Chancellory of the Palatinate, as a former friend of
Erastus' family, all he knew as regarded the relations of the former
Counsellor with Parson Neuser and the other Arians, moreover that he
should testify as to the belief and general habits of Lydia daughter of
Erastus, who was about to be placed on her trial _in crimine
malefacii_. The peace so laboriously acquired left him at once. The
brand of Cain burnt once more on his forehead, but he cared little for
any insult or disgrace which might accrue to him during these public
trials, in comparison with th