where she had done injury or wrong to
any man, to make amends to the uttermost of her power. He did
so in words of awful warning, and at the same time of soothing
tenderness; but no answer came from her lips--she turned her
face towards the wall; and, to use the expressive words of
Holy Scripture, she lifted up her voice and wept.

Mr. Lacy directed Mrs. Denley and Mary Evans to leave him
alone with Ellen, but to remain within call in case their
presence was required.

When the door was closed he addressed her in the following
words:--"Your conscience is troubled with some weighty
matter--the heaviness of guilt is on your soul, ay, and that
of deep anguish too," he added, as the heart-rending expression
of her countenance, which she suddenly turned towards him,
revealed the acuteness of her sufferings. "Perhaps, too, you
may have been more sinned against than sinning. Perhaps the
hand of man has been against you, and you have wandered, young
as you are, through the wilderness of the world, and found no
rest for the sole of your foot. You have longed, perhaps, like
the dove, to flee away and be at rest."

In a hoarse voice Ellen murmured, "There is no peace for the
wicked!"

"But there is pardon for the penitent, and peace for the
pardoned," rejoined Mr. Lacy.

"Pardoned! pardoned!" exclaimed Ellen, pressing her hand to
her forehead, "I shall never feel myself pardoned! Mr. Lacy, I
have sometimes opened the Bible, and I have read in it words
of pity, words of mercy, words of promise, and for a moment
they seemed to bring comfort to my soul; but the dark spirit
within me would still whisper, They are not written for
thee,--not for thee. O God! O God! when shall I ever feel
forgiven?"

"When, laying aside all human pride, all human fears,"
solemnly replied Mr. Lacy, "in meek distrust of your own
judgment, in deep humility of spirit, you make, as the Church
requires, a special confession of your sins to one, who, if
you truly repent and believe, can absolve you from them, by
the authority committed to him by our Lord Jesus Christ."

Ellen listened to these words in deep silence, and Mr. Lacy
did not interrupt her meditation. After a long pause daring
which she seemed absorbed in the most intense thought, she
once more extended her hand to him, and said, "I think, I
hope, that a change has come over me. Thoughts are crowding
upon my mind, that never came there before, and things begin
to appear to me in a new l