“‘Save me, father, save me!’ cried Atala, falling to the ground.  ’I am a Christian, and I do not want to die in mortal sin.’

“What was the matter with her?  She was as pale as death, and unable to rise.  I bent over her, and so did the missionary.

“‘Oh, Chactas,’ she murmured, ’I am dying.  Just before the lightning struck the tree at our feet, I took some poison.  For I felt that I could no longer resist you, my beloved, and I was resolved to save myself in death.’

“‘But here is a priest,’ I said.  ’I will be baptised at once, and we can be married immediately afterwards.’

“‘I could not marry you, even then,’ she said.  ’I was sixteen years old when my mother died, and in order to preserve me from marrying any of the heathen savages among whom my lot was cast, she made me vow, on the image of Mary the Mother of my God, that I would remain all my life a pure, Christian virgin.’

“Oh, Rene, how I hated the God of the Christians at that moment!  I drew my tomahawk, resolved to kill the missionary on the spot.  But disregarding me, he bent over Atala, and raised her head upon his knees.

“’My dear child, your vow does not prevent you from marrying your lover, especially as he is willing to become a Christian.  I will write at once to the Bishop of Quebec, who has the power to relieve you of any vow that you have made, and then there will be nothing to prevent your marriage.’

“As he spoke, Atala was seized with a convulsion which shook all her body.  In wild agony, she cried:  ’Oh, it is too late, it is too late!  I thought my mother’s spirit would come and drag me down to hell if I broke my vow.  I took poison with me, Chactas, when I fled with you.  I have just swallowed it.  There is no remedy.  Oh, God!  Oh, God!’

“She was dead in my arms.  I buried her where she died, and had it not been for the missionary, Rene, I would have laid down in the grave, by her side, and let the blood well out of all my veins.  But I became a Christian, as you know, and then, finding some work in the world to do, I went back to my own tribe, and converted them.  I have been to France.  I have seen your great king Louis XIV.  I have talked with Bishop Bossuet, and it was he who convinced me that I could best serve God by returning to my own people, the Natchez, and trying to form them into a great Christian nation under the guidance of the King of France.”

* * * * *

CHARLES VICTOR CHERBULIEZ

Samuel Brohl & Co.

      Charles Victor Cherbuliez was born in Geneva, Switzerland, in
     1829, studied history and philosophy in Paris, Bonn and Berlin
     and travelled widely, gathering material that he used in
     social and political essays and also in fiction.  He won fame
     with his first novel, “Count Kostia,” published in 1863.  After