everything else conspired to part her.

She knelt down and folded her hands, as she had so often seen Christians
do, and she reflected on the torments that the poor Man, who hung with
pierced hands on the cross, had so meekly endured, though He suffered
innocently; she felt the deepest pity for Him, and softly said to
herself, as she raised her eyes to the low roof of her cave-dwelling:

"Thou poor good Son of God, Thou knowest what it is when all men condemn
us unjustly, and surely, Thou canst understand when I say to Thee how
sore my poor heart is! And they say too, that of all hearts Thine is the
most loving, and so thou wilt know how it is that, in spite of all my
misery, it still seems to me that I am a happy woman. The very breath of
a God must be rapture, and that Thou too must have learned when they
tortured and mocked Thee, for Thou halt suffered out of love. They say,
that Thou wast wholly pure and perfectly sinless. Now I--I have
committed many follies, but not a sin--a real sin--no, indeed, I have
not; and Thou must know it, for Thou art a God, and knowest the past, and
canst read hearts. And, indeed, I also would fain remain innocent, and
yet how can that be when I cannot help being devoted to Polykarp, and yet
I am another man's wife. But am I indeed the true and lawful wife of
that horrible wretch who sold me to another? He is as far from my heart
--as far as if I had never seen him with these eyes. And yet--believe
me--I wish him no ill, and I will be quite content, if only I need never
go back to him.

"When I was a child, I was afraid of frogs; my brothers and sisters knew
it, and once my brother Licinius laid a large one, that he had caught,
on my bare neck. I started, and shuddered, and screamed out loud, for it
was so hideously cold and damp--I cannot express it. And that is exactly