"If we sin, He only asks us to repent and be forgiven." "But we must pay the penalty, Amy," said the other.

"There is a price set upon every sin; and mine is so vast, so enormous--" She paused a moment, as if overwhelmed by the contemplation of it; then, in the same tone, she continued: "You, Amy, can not even conceive how dreadful it is.

You know what it is, but not how bad it is." She was silent again, and her soul appeared to wrap itself in denser gloom.

The air of the room seemed to Amy stifling.

The next moment she felt as if she were pierced with sharp spears of ice.