."

"He has given me the firm purpose," she said, "to gain heaven, to escape
hell; and He will give me too the power."

"Ah, Callista!" he answered, in a voice broken with distress, "you know
not what you will have to bear, if you join yourself to Him."

"He has done great things for me already; I am wonderfully changed; I am
not what I was. He will do more still."

"Alas, my child!" said Caecilius, "that feeble frame, ah! how will it bear
the strong iron, or the keen flame, or the ruthless beast? My child, what
do _I_ feel, who am free, thus handing you over to be the sport of the
evil one?"

"Father, I have chosen Him," she answered, "not hastily, but on
deliberation. I believe Him most absolutely. Keep me not from Him; give
Him to me, if I may ask it; give me my Love."

Presently she added, "I have never forgotten those words of yours since
you used them; 'Amor meus crucifixus est.' "

She began again, "I will be a Christian; give me my place among them. Give
me my place at the feet of Jesus, Son of Mary, my God. I wish to love Him.
I think I can love Him. Make me His."

"He has loved you from eternity," said Caecilius, "and, therefore, you are
now beginning to love Him."

She covered her eyes with her hands, and remained in profound meditation.
"I am very ignorant--very sinful," she said at length; "but one thing I
know, that there is but One to love in the whole world, and I wish to love
him. I surrender myself to Him, if He will take me; and He shall teach me
about Himself."

"The angry multitude, their fierce voices, the brutal executioner, the
prison, the torture, the slow, painful death." He was speaking, not to
her, but to himself. She was calm, in spite of her fervour; but he could
not contain himself. His heart melted within him; he felt like Abraham,
lifting up his hand to slay his child.

"Time passes," she said; "what may happen? you may be discovered. But,
perhaps," she added, suddenly changing her tone, "it is a matter of long
initiation. Woe is me!"

"We must gird ourselves to the work, Victor," he said to his deacon who
was with him. Caecilius fell back and sat down, and Victor came forward. He
formally instructed her so far as the circumstances allowed. Not for
baptism only, but for confirmation, and Holy Eucharist; for Caecilius
determined to give her all three sacraments at once.

It was a sight for angels to look down upon, and they did; when the poor
child, rich in this world's gi