came at such a time under the influence of a mind like that of
Sister Madeline.

But the time was approaching for her to go away. I was well enough to do
without her, and she had other duties. The sick-room peace and
indulgence were over, and I must take up the burden of every-day life
again. I was very unhappy, and felt as if I were without stay
or guidance.

"To whom am I to go when I am in doubt?" I said; "you will be so far
away."

"That is what I want to arrange: the next time you are able to go out, I
want to take you to some one who can direct you much better than I."

"A priest?" I asked. "Tell me one thing: will he give me absolution?"

"I suppose he will, if he finds that you desire it."

"What would be the use of going to him for anything else?" I said. "It
is the only thing that can give me any comfort."

"All people do not feel so, Pauline."

"But you feel so, dear Sister Madeline, do you not? You can understand
how I am burdened, and how I long to have the bands undone?"

"Yes, Pauline, I can understand."

I am not inclined to give much weight to my own opinions, and as for my
feelings, I know they were, then, those of a child, and in many ways
will always be. I can only say what comforted me, and what I longed for.
There had always been great force to me, in the Scripture that says,
"Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosesoever
sins ye retain, they are retained," even before I felt the burden of
my sins.

I had once seen the ordination of a priest, and I suppose that added to
the weight of the words ever after in my mind. I never had any doubt of
the power then conferred, and I no sooner felt the guilt and stain of
sin upon my soul, than I yearned to hear the pardon spoken, that Heaven
offered to the penitent. I had been tangibly smitten; I longed to be
tangibly healed.

Whatever shame and pain there was about laying bare my soul before
another, I gladly embraced it, as one poor means at my command of
showing to Him whom I had offended, that my repentance was actual, that
I stopped at no humiliation.

It may very well be that these feelings would find no place in larger,
grander, more self-reliant natures; that what healed my soul would only
wound another. I am not prepared to think that one remedy is cure for
all diseases, but I know what cured mine. I bless God for "the soothing
hand that Love on Conscience laid." I mark that hour as the beginning of
a fresh