ht me that there is but one path to true happiness, and it is that
which is shown us by Jesus Christ. O lady, how much fairer would our
life on earth be if what is written here concerning blessedness were
stamped on every heart! I feel as though in this hour I had been born
again. I do not know myself; and how is it possible that a poor child of
man, in such fearful straits and peril as I, and after such a scene of
horror, should feel so thankful and so full of the purest gladness?"

The matron clasped her closely in her arms, and her tears bedewed the
girl's face while she kissed her again and again; and the cheerfulness
which had just now hurt her so deeply she now regarded as a beautiful
miracle.

Her time was limited, for she was watched; and she had seized the
half-hour during which the townguard had been mustered in the square to
report progress. So Melissa had to be brief, and in a few hasty words
she told her friend all that she had seen and heard from her high
window, and how the gospel of Matthew had been to her glad tidings; how
it had given her comfort and filled her soul with infinite happiness in
this the most terrible hour of her life. At this, Euryale also forgot
the horrors which surrounded them, till Melissa called her back to the
dreadful present; for, with bowed head and in deep anxiety, she desired
to know whether her friend knew anything of her relations and Diodoros.

The matron had a painful struggle with herself. It grieved her to
inflict anxiety on Melissa's heart, as she stood before her eyes like
one of the maidens robed in white and going to be baptized, to whom
presents were given on the festive occasion, and who were carefully
sheltered from all that could disturb them and destroy the silent, holy
joy of their souls. And yet the question must be answered: so she said
that of the other two she knew nothing, any more than of Berenike and
Diodoros, but that of Philip she had bad news. He was a noble man, and,
notwithstanding his errors in the search after truth, well worthy
of pity. At this, Melissa in great alarm begged to be told what had
happened to her brother, and the lady Euryale confessed that he no
longer walked among the living, but she did not relate the manner of his
death; and she bade the weeping girl to seek for comfort from the Friend
of all who grieve and whom she now knew; but to keep herself prepared
for the worst, in full assurance that none are tried beyond what they
are