Is sin, then,--which we deem such a dreadful blackness in the universe,--is it, like sorrow, merely an element of human education, through which we struggle to a higher and purer state than we could otherwise have attained?
Did Adam fall, that we might ultimately rise to a far loftier paradise than his ?" "O hush!" cried Hilda, shrinking from him with an expression of horror which wounded the poor, speculative sculptor to the soul.

"This is terrible; and I could weep for you, if you indeed believe it.

Do not you perceive what a mockery your creed makes, not only of all religious sentiments, but of moral law?
And how it annuls and obliterates whatever precepts of Heaven are written deepest within us?
You have shocked me beyond words!" "Forgive me, Hilda!" exclaimed the sculptor, startled by her agitation; "I never did believe it! But the mind wanders wild and wide; and, so lonely as I live and work, I have neither pole-star above nor light of cottage windows here below, to bring me home.

Were you my guide, my counsellor, my inmost friend, with that white wisdom which clothes you as a celestial garment, all would go well.

O Hilda, guide me home!" "We are both lonely; both far from home!" said Hilda, her eyes filling with tears.