iousness of guilt which had previously
been unknown to her. She had been busy and industrious out of pride and
fear, but never from love; she had selfishly tried to fling from her the
sacred gift of life without ever thinking what would become of those whom
it was her duty to care for. She had cursed her lovely sister who needed
her protection and care, and even Pollux, her childhood's playfellow; and
a thousand times had she imprecated the ruler of human destinies. All
this she now keenly felt with all the earnestness natural to her, but she
was soothed by the tidings that there was One who had redeemed the world,
and taken on Himself the sins of every repentant sinner.

After Selene had once expressed to the widow her desire to be a
Christian, Hannah brought the bishop to see her. He himself undertook to
instruct the girl and he found in her a disciple anxious and craving for
knowledge. Just like those dried-up and dull-colored plants which, when
they are plunged in water, open out and revive, so did her heart,
untimely withered and dry; and she longed to be perfectly recovered that
she, like Hannah, might tend the sick and exercise that love which Christ
demands of His followers. That which most particularly appealed to her in
her new faith was that it did not promise joys to the rich who could make
great sacrifices, but to the miserable sinner who with a contrite heart
yearned for forgiveness, to the poor and abject, towards whom she felt as
though they belonged to the same family as herself. And her valiant
spirit could not be satisfied with intentions but longed to act upon
them. In Besa she could set to work with Hannah, and this prospect
lightened her grief in quitting Alexandria.

A favoring wind bore the voyagers southward safe to their destination.

Two days after their departure Antinous once more stole into Paulina's
garden. He went up to the widow's little house looking in vain for the
deformed girl; the road was open; her absence could but be pleasing to
him, and yet it disquieted him. His heart beat wildly, for
to-day--perhaps he might find Selene alone. He opened the door without
knocking, but he dared not cross the threshold, for in the anteroom stood
a strange man, placing boards against the wall. The carpenter, a
Christian to whom Paulina had given this little house for his family to
live in, asked Antinous what he wanted.

"Is dame Hannah at home?" stammered the Bithynian.

"She no longer lives