d after that she took me wholly into her confidence.

"She had left her husband and her child for the sake of a diabolical
seducer, whom she had followed to Alexandria, and who there had
abandoned her. Alone and friendless, in want and guilt, she remained
behind with a hard-hearted and covetous hostess, who had brought her
before the judge, and so into prison. What an abyss of the deepest
anguish of soul I could discover in this woman, who was worthy of a
better lot! What is highest and best in a woman? Her love, her mother's
heart, her honor; and Magdalen had squandered and ruined all these by
her own guilt. The blow of overwhelming fate may be easily borne, but
woe to him, whose life is ruined by his own sin! She was a sinner, she
felt it with anguish of repentance, and she steadily refused my offers
to purchase her freedom.

"She was greedy of punishment, as a man in a fever is greedy of the
bitter potion, which cools his blood. And, by the crucified Lord! I
have found more noble humanity among sinners, than in many just men in
priestly garb. Through the presence of Magdalen, the prison recovered
its sanctity in my eyes. Before this I had frequently quitted it full of
deep contempt, for among the imprisoned Christians, there were too often
lazy vagabond's, who had loudly confessed the Saviour only to be fed
by the gifts of the brethren; there I had seen accursed criminals,
who hoped by a martyr's death to win back the redemption that they had
forfeited; there I had heard the woeful cries of the faint-hearted, who
feared death as much as they feared treason to the most High. There were
things to be seen there that might harrow the soul, but also examples of
the sublimest greatness. Men have I seen there, aye, and women, who
went to their death in calm and silent bliss, and whose end was, indeed,
noble--more noble than that of the much-lauded Codrus or Decius Mus.

"Among all the prisoners there was neither man nor woman who was more
calmly self-possessed, more devoutly resigned, than Magdalen. The words,
'There is more joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth than over
ninety and nine that need no repentance,' strengthened her greatly,
and she repented--yea and verily, she did. And for my part, God is my
witness that not an impulse as from man to woman drew me to her, and yet
I could not leave her, and I passed the day by her side, and at night
she haunted my soul, and it would have seemed to me fairer than all i