e me nor hate me. I have never, like many of the men I know,
laughed at your voluntary poverty. In your turn, do not make a crime
of my riches. I am beautiful, and clever in acting. I no more chose my
condition than my nature. I was made for that which I do. I was born to
charm men. And you yourself, did you not say just now that you loved me?
Do not use your science against me. Do not pronounce magic words which
would destroy my beauty, or change me into a statue of salt. Do not
terrify me! I am already too frightened. Do not kill me! I am so afraid
of death."

He made a sign to her to rise, and said--

"Child, have no fear. I will utter no word of shame or scorn. I come on
behalf of Him who sat on the edge of the well, and drank of the pitcher
which the woman of Samaria offered to Him; and who, also, when He supped
at the house of Simon, received the perfumes of Mary. I am not without
sin that I should throw the first stone. I have often badly employed
the abundant grace which God has bestowed upon me. It was not anger,
but pity, which took me by the hand to conduct me here. I can, without
deceit, address thee in words of love, for it is the zeal in my heart
which has brought me to thee. I burn with the fire of charity, and if
thy eyes, accustomed only to the gross sights of the flesh, could see
things in their mystic aspect, I should appear unto thee as a branch
broken off the burning bush which the Lord showed on the mountain to
Moses of old, that he might understand true love--that which envelops
us, and which, so far from leaving behind it mere coals and ashes,
purifies and perfumes for ever that which it penetrates."

"I believe you, monk, and no longer fear either deceit or ill-will from
you. I have often heard talk of the hermits of the Thebaid. Marvellous
things have been told concerning Anthony and Paul. Your name is not
unknown to me, and I have heard say that, though you are still young,
you equal in virtue the oldest anchorites. As soon as I saw you, and
without knowing who you were, I felt that you were no ordinary man. Tell
me! can you do for me that which neither the priests of Isis, nor of
Hermes, nor of the celestial Juno, nor the Chaldean soothsayers, nor the
Babylonian magi have been able to effect? Monk, if you love me, can you
prevent me from dying?"

"Woman, whosoever wishes to live shall live. Flee from the abominable
delights in which thou diest for ever. Snatch from the devils, who will
bu