whatsoever is thoroughly to be overcome; which evil being once overcome and subdued, there will presently ensue great peace and tranquillity....  It is but little thou sufferest in comparison of them that have suffered so much, were so strongly tempted, so grievously afflicted, so many ways tried and exercised.  Thou oughtest therefore to call to mind the more heavy sufferings of others, that thou mayest the easier bear thy little adversities.  And if they seem not little unto thee, beware lest thy impatience be the cause thereof....  Blessed are those ears that receive the whispers of the divine voice, and listen not to the whisperings of the world.  Blessed are those ears which hearken not unto the voice which soundeth outwardly, but unto the Truth which teacheth inwardly.”

A strange thrill of awe passed through Maggie while she read, as if she had been wakened in the night by a strain of solemn music, telling of beings whose souls had been astir while hers was in stupor.  She went on from one brown mark to another, where the quiet hand seemed to point, hardly conscious that she was reading—­seeming rather to listen while a low voice said,—­

“Why dost thou here gaze about, since this is not the place of thy rest?  In heaven ought to be thy dwelling, and all earthly things are to be looked on as they forward thy journey thither.  All things pass away, and thou together with them.  Beware thou cleave not unto them lest thou be entangled and perish....  If a man should give all his substance, yet it is as nothing.  And if he should do great penances, yet are they but little.  And if he should attain to all knowledge, he is yet far off.  And if he should be of great virtue and very fervent devotion, yet is there much wanting; to wit, one thing which is most necessary for him.  What is that?  That having left all, he leave himself, and go wholly out of himself, and retain nothing of self-love....  I have often said unto thee, and now again I say the same.  Forsake thyself, resign thyself, and thou shalt enjoy much inward peace....  Then shall all vain imaginations, evil perturbations and superfluous cares fly away; then shall immoderate fear leave thee, and inordinate love shall die.”

Maggie drew a long breath and pushed her heavy hair back, as if to see a sudden vision more clearly.  Here, then, was a secret of life that would enable her to renounce all other secrets—­here was a sublime height to be reached without the help of outward things—­here was insight, and strength, and conquest, to be won by means entirely within her own soul, where a supreme Teacher was waiting to be heard.  It flashed through her like the suddenly apprehended solution of a problem, that all the miseries of her young life had come from fixing her heart on her own pleasure, as if that were the central necessity of the universe; and for the first time she saw the possibility of shifting the position from which she looked at the gratification