'If I be condemned to evil acts,' he said, 'there is still one door of freedom open--I can cease from action.

If my life be an ill thing, I can lay it down.

Though I be, as you say truly, at the beck of every small temptation, I can yet, by one decisive gesture, place myself beyond the reach of all.

My love of good is damned to barrenness; it may, and let it be! But I have still my hatred of evil; and from that, to your galling disappointment, you shall see that I can draw both energy and courage.' The features of the visitor began to undergo a wonderful and lovely change: they brightened and softened with a tender triumph, and, even as they brightened, faded and dislimned.

But Markheim did not pause to watch or understand the transformation.