The Pocket Bible or Christian the Printer

the night before was enacted. Hardly had they touched the lowermost step of the staircase when Hervé thre

my past conduct-pardo

ushed to the minds of Christian and Bridget as they exchanged a look of p

aid the art

rgiveness for my infamous act;" and he added, amid sobs:

k to be sincere, "last night, in this same room, your mother and I said to you: 'If yo

mise," added Bridget. "We pardon

ct. Good God! So much kindness on your part, and so much baseness on mine! My whole life

red for this admission of your guilt. Certain happy symptoms that your mother and myself noticed to-day,

e set to him, as well as to his sister and brother? No; no; we will regain him; he will see the error of his ways. So you see, dear, dear boy

is mother's neck, and answering her caresses

hope your esteem for me may return, when you will have been able to judge of the sincerity of my

, thanks be to God. S

y the counsel of Fra Girard, I pilfered your money for the

, while we suspected you, did we believe you capable of the guilty act out of love for go

f my larceny has not been dissipated in prodigality. No; I did not keep it like a miser, out of love for gold. The gold pieces were all t

rofitable to the cupidity of the Church of Rome, must have had its fascination for your

ed; I fathomed the depth of the abyss that blind fanaticism leads to. Do you know what that monk, who claimed to speak in the name of the Almighty, dared to say to the mass of people gathered in the church? 'The virtue of my indulgences is so efficacious,' the monk cried out,

crilegious words which the lad reported to them caused them to shiver with hor

shocked you back to your senses! Yes, your eyes were suddenly opened to the light; you conceived a horror for

d, I cursed the detestable charm under which the man had held me captive, and which was alienating me from a cherished, a venerated family. I cursed the devilish sophisms, which, exactly as you expressed it, father, were corrupting in my mind the most elemental principles of right and wrong, and led me to the commission of a theft, an act that was doubly infam

tion, in the horror that the past inspired him with. Father and mother devoutly rendered thanks to God for having restored their son