The young man had never before experienced such suffering of spirit.  The leaden weight on his heart seemed to be crushing, not only his physical being, but his spirit also into the depths of despair.  As far back in his boyhood as he could remember, he had been taught the enormity of sexual sin, until it had become second nature for him to think of it as something very improbable, if not impossible, as pertaining to himself.  And yet, here it was, right at the very door of his heart, casting its evil shadow into the most sacred precincts of his being.  He had never imagined it coming to any of his near and dear ones, especially not to Carlia—­Carlia, his neighbor, his chummy companion in fields and highways, his schoolmate.  He pictured her in many of her wild adventures as a child, and in her softer moods as a grown-up girl.  He saw again her dark eyes flash with anger, and then her pearly teeth gleam in laughter at him.  He remembered how she used to run from him, and then at other times how she would cling to him as if she pleaded for a protection which he had not given.  The weak had reached out to the strong, and the stronger one had failed.  If ‘remorse of conscience’ is hell, Dorian tasted of its bitter depths, for it came to him now that perhaps because of his neglect, Carlia had been led to her fall.

But what could he now do?  Find her.  And then, what?  Marry her?  He refused to consider that for a moment.  He drove the thought fiercely away.  That would be impossible now.  The horror of what had been would always stand as a repellent specter between them....  Yes, he had loved her—­he knew that now more assuredly than ever; and he tried to place that love away from him by a play upon words in the past tense; but deep down in his heart he knew that he was merely trying to deceive himself.  He loved her still; and the fact that he loved her but could not marry her added fuel to the flames of his torment.

That long night was mostly a hideous nightmare and even after he awoke from a fitful sleep next morning, he was in a stupor.  After a while, he went out into the wintry air.  It was Sunday, and the town was comparatively quiet.  He found something to eat at a lunch counter, then he walked about briskly to try to get his blood into active circulation.  Again he went to his room.

Presently, he heard the ringing of church bells.  The folks would be going to Sunday school in Greenstreet.  He saw in the vision of his mind Uncle Zed sitting with the boys about him in his class.  He saw the teacher’s lifted hand emphasize the warning against sin, and then he seemed to hear a voice read: 

“For the Son of man is come to save that which is lost.

“How think ye if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?

“And if so be that he find it, verily, I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.”