ecstasy of self-surrender. Just as I was about to embrace
her, the lightning fell, the sword of God, upon the surging, stormy
forest, and made a wild and terrible radiance around us, and shattered a
great tree at our feet. We rose up, overcome by a sacred horror, and
fled. And then an even more miraculous thing happened. As the rolling
thunder died away we heard in the silence and the darkness the sound of
a bell. A dog barked, and came running joyfully up to us. Behind him was
an old, white-haired priest, carrying a lantern in his hand.

"'Dear God!' said the priest. 'How young they are! Poor children! My dog
found you in the forest just before the storm broke, and ran back to my
cave to fetch me. I have brought some wine in my calabash. Drink it, it
will revive you. Did you not hear the mission bell, which we ring every
night so that strangers may find their way?'

"'Save me, father, save me!' cried Atala, falling to the ground. 'I am a
Christian, and I do not want to die in mortal sin.'

"What was the matter with her? She was as pale as death, and unable to
rise. I bent over her, and so did the missionary.

"'Oh, Chactas,' she murmured, 'I am dying. Just before the lightning
struck the tree at our feet, I took some poison. For I felt that I could
no longer resist you, my beloved, and I was resolved to save myself in
death.'

"'But here is a priest,' I said. 'I will be baptised at once, and we can
be married immediately afterwards.'

"'I could not marry you, even then,' she said. 'I was sixteen years old
when my mother died, and in order to preserve me from marrying any of
the heathen savages among whom my lot was cast, she made me vow, on the
image of Mary the Mother of my God, that I would remain all my life a
pure, Christian virgin.'

"Oh, Rene, how I hated the God of the Christians at that moment! I drew
my tomahawk, resolved to kill the missionary on the spot. But
disregarding me, he bent over Atala, and raised her head upon his knees.

"'My dear child, your vow does not prevent you from marrying your lover,
especially as he is willing to become a Christian. I will write at once
to the Bishop of Quebec, who has the power to relieve you of any vow
that you have made, and then there will be nothing to prevent your
marriage.'

"As he spoke, Atala was seized with a convulsion which shook all her
body. In wild agony, she cried: 'Oh, it is too late, it is too late! I
thought my mother's spirit would come and