"I did not presume to hope--now it is too late! Listen! I will tell you what I have told no living soul, though thereafter you may think me mad.

Weak and humble as I am, I believe myself to have received a Divine mission.

I believe that I shall execute it, or bring about its execution, but at the ultimate cost of my own life.

Still, in such a service two are better than one.

If you--can care enough--if you----" But the lady had already turned away, and was murmuring her farewell in accents that sounded like a sob.