“Again I tell you these suggestions are evil,” said Nicholas.  “The Son of God, who sacrificed himself for man, and by whose atonement all mankind hope for salvation, has assured us that the greatest sinner who repents shall be forgiven, and, indeed, is more acceptable in the eyes of Heaven than him who has never erred.  Far be it from me to attempt to exculpate you in your own eyes, or extenuate your former criminality.  You have sinned deeply, so deeply that you may well shrink aghast from the contemplation of your past life—­may well recoil in abhorrence from yourself—­and may fitly devote yourself to constant prayer and acts of penitence.  But having cast off your iniquity, and sincerely repented, I bid you hope—­I bid you place a confident reliance in the clemency of an all-merciful power.”

“You give me much comfort, Nicholas,” said the lady, “and if tears of blood can wash away my sin they shall be shed; but much as you know of my wickedness, even you cannot conceive its extent.  In my madness, for it was nothing else, I cast off all hopes of heaven, renounced my Redeemer, was baptised by the demon, and entered into a compact by which—­I shudder to speak it—­my soul was surrendered to him.”

“You placed yourself in fearful jeopardy, no doubt,” rejoined Nicholas; “but you have broken the contract in time, and an all righteous judge will not permit the penalty of the bond to be exacted.  Seeing your penitence, Satan has relinquished all claim to your soul.”

“I do not think it,” replied the lady.  “He will contest the point to the last, and it is only at the last that it will be decided.”

As she spoke, a sound like mocking laughter reached the ears of Nicholas.

“Did you hear that?” demanded Mistress Nutter, in accents of wildest terror.  “He is ever on the watch.  I knew it—­I knew it.”

Clasping her hands together, and fixing her looks on high she then addressed the most fervent supplications to Heaven for deliverance from evil, and erelong her troubled countenance began to resume its former serenity, proving that the surest balm for a “mind diseased” is prayer.  Her example had been followed by Nicholas, who, greatly alarmed, had dropped upon his knees likewise, and now arose with somewhat more composure in his demeanour and aspect.

“I am sorry I do not bring you good news, madam,” he said; “but Jem Device has been arrested this morning, and as the fellow is greatly exasperated against me, he threatens to betray your retreat to the officers; and though he is, probably, unacquainted with it notwithstanding his boasting, still he may cause search to be made, and, therefore, I think you had better be removed to some other hiding-place.”

“Deliver me up without more ado, I pray you, Nicholas,” said the lady.

“You know my resolution on that point, madam,” he replied, “and, therefore, it is idle to attempt to shake it.  For your daughter’s sake, if not for your own, I will save you, in spite of yourself.  You would not fix a brand for ever on Alizon’s name; you would not destroy her?”