“And what should I pray for, and what should I say—­and whom should I curse?”

“Oh, curse none!—­say anything you please, so that it have the form of a prayer.  Say, though but a single sentence, but say it in the spirit which is right.”

“Say what?”

“Say—­’the Lord’s will be done,’ if nothing more; but say it in the true feeling—­the feeling of humble reliance upon God.”

“And wherefore say this?  His will must be done, and will be done, whether I say it or not.  This is all idle—­very idle—­and to my mind excessively ridiculous, Ellen.”

“Not so, Guy, as your own sense will inform you.  True, his will must be done; but there is a vast difference between desiring that it be done, and in endeavoring to resist its doing.  It is one thing to pray that his will have its way without stop, but quite another to have a vain wish in one’s heart to arrest its progress.  But I am a poor scholar, and have no words to prove this to your mind, if you are not willing to think upon the subject.  If the danger is not great enough in your thought—­if the happiness of that hope of immortality be not sufficiently impressive to you—­how can I make it seem different?  The great misfortune of the learned and the wise is, that they will not regard the necessity.  If they did—­if they could be less self-confident—­how much more readily would all these lights from God shine out to them, than to us who want the far sense so quickly to perceive and to trace them out in the thick darkness.  But it is my prayer, Guy, that you kneel with me in prayer; that you implore the feeling of preparedness for all chances which can only come from Heaven.  Do this for me, Guy—­Guy, my beloved—­the destroyer of my youth, of all my hope, and of all of mine, making me the poor destitute and outcast that you find me now—­do this one, one small kindness for the poor Ellen you have so much wronged, and she forgives you all.  I have no other prayer than this—­I have no other wish in life.”

As she spoke, she threw herself before him, and clasped his knees firmly with her hands.  He lifted her gently from the floor, and for a few moments maintained her in silence in his arms.  At length, releasing her from his grasp, and placing her upon the bench, on which, until that moment, he had continued to sit, he replied:—­

“The prayer is small—­very small, Ellen—­which you make, and I know no good reason why I should not grant it.  I have been to you all that you describe me.  You have called me truly your destroyer, and the forgiveness you promise in return for this prayer is desirable even to one so callous as myself.  I will do as you require.”

“Oh, will you? then I shall be so happy!—­” was her exclamation of rejoicing.  He replied gravely—­

“We shall see.  I will, Ellen, do as you require, but you must turn away your eyes—­go to the window and look out.  I would not be seen in such a position, nor while uttering such a prayer.”