But a heretic! And are you reconciled to the Church ?" "Never, father," said Hilda.
"And, that being the case," demanded the old man, "on what ground, my daughter, have you sought to avail yourself of these blessed privileges, confined exclusively to members of the one true Church, of confession and absolution ?" "Absolution, father ?" exclaimed Hilda, shrinking back.

"O no, no! I never dreamed of that! Only our Heavenly Father can forgive my sins; and it is only by sincere repentance of whatever wrong I may have done, and by my own best efforts towards a higher life, that I can hope for his forgiveness! God forbid that I should ask absolution from mortal man!" "Then wherefore," rejoined the priest, with somewhat less mildness in his tone,--"wherefore, I ask again, have you taken possession, as I may term it, of this holy ordinance; being a heretic, and neither seeking to share, nor having faith in, the unspeakable advantages which the Church offers to its penitents ?" "Father," answered Hilda, trying to tell the old man the simple truth, "I am a motherless girl, and a stranger here in Italy.

I had only God to take care of me, and be my closest friend; and the terrible, terrible crime, which I have revealed to you, thrust itself between him and me; so that I groped for him in the darkness, as it were, and found him not,--found nothing but a dreadful solitude, and this crime in the midst of it! I could not bear it.

It seemed as if I made the awful guilt my own, by keeping it hidden in my heart.

I grew a fearful thing to myself.
I was going mad!" "It was a grievous trial, my poor child!" observed the confessor.