Having permitted Leander to muse a little, his hostess turned the conversation to the troublous topic of her thoughts; and began by saying how her brother would esteem the privilege of counsel and solace from one so qualified to impart them.

But alas she must make known a distressful occurrence, whereby the office of a spiritual adviser by the bedside of Maximus must needs be complicated and made painful; and therewith Petronilla related the events of yesterday.

As he listened, the deacon knitted his brows, but in thought rather than in affliction; and when the speaker was silent, he still mused awhile.
'Gracious madam,' he began at length solemnly, 'you of course hold no intercourse with this lady ?' 'None! I have shrunk ever from the sight of her.' 'Such abhorrence of error witnesses to the purity and the illumination of your soul: I could have expected nothing less from Petronilla.

You know not whether the misguided woman shows any disposition to return to the true faith ?' 'I fear not,' replied Petronilla, looking rather as if the fear were a hope.

'Her nature is stubborn: she has the pride of the fallen angels.' 'And her father, I am afraid, has no longer the strength to treat her sin with due severity ?' 'Earthly affection has subdued him,' replied the lady, shaking her head.