I did not fear, that is, I feared not man, or beast or ghost, but an unspeakable awe and dread was upon me.

I dreaded the great God, whose presence filled with insupportable grandeur the lonely night.

My heart was hard as granite.
_I_ could not have prayed, had I known that Peggy's life would be given in answer to my prayer.

I could not say, "Our Father, who art in heaven," as I had so often done at my mother's knee, in the sweet, childlike spirit of filial love and submission.

My Father's face was hidden, and behind the thick clouds of darkness I saw a stern, vindictive Being, to whom the smoke of human suffering was more acceptable than frankincense and myrrh.
I compared myself wandering alone in darkness and sorrow, on such an awful errand, to the fair, smiling being cradled in wealth, then doubtless sleeping in her bed of down, watched by attending menials.