sin in the purple must
bring the day of salvation and peace nearer--that day of which Andreas
dreamed! As in her silent walk she passed the book-rolls which the lady
Euryale had so quietly laid by her bedside, she took up the glad message
of Luke with enthusiastic excitement, held it on high, and shouted the
angels' greeting which had impressed itself on her memory out of the
window, as though she longed that Caracalla should hear it--"Peace on
earth and good-will toward men!"

Then she resumed her walk through the rooms of the heathen mystics,
repeating to herself all the comfortable words she had ever heard from
Euryale and the freedman Andreas. The image of the divine Lord, who
had come to bestow love on the world, and seal his sublime doctrine
by sacrificing his life, rose up before her soul, and all that the
Christian Johanna had told her of him made the picture clear, till he
stood plainly before her, beautiful and gentle, in a halo of love and
kindness, and yet strong and noble, for the crucified One was a heroic
Saviour.

At this she remembered with satisfaction the struggle she herself
had fought, and her comfort when she had decided to sacrifice her own
happiness to save others from sorrow. She now resolutely grasped the
lady Euryale's book-rolls, for they contained the key to the inner
chambers of the wondrous structure into whose forecourt life itself and
her own intimate experience had led her. She was soon sitting with her
back to the window, and unrolled the gospel of Matthew till she came to
the first sentence which Euryale had marked for her with a red line.

Melissa was too restless to read straight on; as impatient as a child
who finds itself for the first time in a garden which its parents have
bought, she rushed from one tempting passage to another, applying
each to herself, to those whom she loved, or in another sense to the
disturber of her peace.

With a joyful heart she now believed the promise which at first had
staggered her, that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand.

But her eye ran swiftly over the open roll, and was attracted by a
mark drawing her attention to a whole chapter. She there read how Jesus
Christ had gone up on to a mountain to address the vast multitude who
followed him. He spoke of the kingdom of heaven, and of who those were
that should be suffered to enter there. First, they were the poor in
spirit--and she no doubt was one of those. Among those who were rich in
spirit h