oof of St. Peter's at
Rome, God would not have revealed Himself in greater majesty than here
for the eyes of the Christians in that poor refuge; so true is it that
all intermediaries between God and the soul of man are superfluous, and
all the grandeur of God proceeds from Himself alone.

The stranger's fervor was sincere. One emotion blended the prayers of
the four servants of God and the King in a single supplication. The holy
words rang like the music of heaven through the silence. At one moment,
tears gathered in the stranger's eyes. This was during the _Pater
Noster_; for the priest added a petition in Latin, and his audience
doubtless understood him when he said: "_Et remitte scelus regicidis
sicut Ludovicus eis remisit semetipse_"--forgive the regicides as Louis
himself forgave them.

The Sisters saw two great tears trace a channel down the stranger's
manly checks and fall to the floor. Then the office for the dead was
recited; the Domine salvum fac regem chanted in an undertone that
went to the hearts of the faithful Royalists, for they thought how the
child-King for whom they were praying was even then a captive in the
hands of his enemies; and a shudder ran through the stranger, as he
thought that a new crime might be committed, and that he could not
choose but take his part in it.

The service came to an end. The priest made a sign to the sisters, and
they withdrew. As soon as he was left alone with the stranger, he went
towards him with a grave, gentle face, and said in fatherly tones:

"My son, if your hands are stained with the blood of the royal martyr,
confide in me. There is no sin that may not be blotted out in the sight
of God by penitence as sincere and touching as yours appears to be."

At the first words the man started with terror, in spite of himself.
Then he recovered composure, and looked quietly at the astonished
priest.

"Father," he said, and the other could not miss the tremor in his voice,
"no one is more guiltless than I of the blood shed----"

"I am bound to believe you," said the priest. He paused a moment, and
again he scrutinized his penitent. But, persisting in the idea that
the man before him was one of the members of the Convention, one of the
voters who betrayed an inviolable and anointed head to save their own,
he began again gravely:

"Remember, my son, that it is not enough to have taken no active part in
the great crime; that fact does not absolve you. The men who mig