“Hetty,” she said gently, “do you know who it is that sits by your side?”

“Yes,” Hetty answered slowly, “it’s Dinah.”

“And do you remember the time when we were at the Hall Farm together, and that night when I told you to be sure and think of me as a friend in trouble?”

“Yes,” said Hetty.  Then, after a pause, she added, “But you can do nothing for me.  You can’t make ’em do anything.  They’ll hang me o’ Monday—­it’s Friday now.”

As Hetty said the last words, she clung closer to Dinah, shuddering.

“No, Hetty, I can’t save you from that death.  But isn’t the suffering less hard when you have somebody with you, that feels for you—­that you can speak to, and say what’s in your heart?...Yes, Hetty:  you lean on me:  you are glad to have me with you.”

“You won’t leave me, Dinah?  You’ll keep close to me?”

“No, Hetty, I won’t leave you.  I’ll stay with you to the last....But, Hetty, there is some one else in this cell besides me, some one close to you.”

Hetty said, in a frightened whisper, “Who?”

“Some one who has been with you through all your hours of sin and trouble—­who has known every thought you have had—­has seen where you went, where you lay down and rose up again, and all the deeds you have tried to hide in darkness.  And on Monday, when I can’t follow you—­when my arms can’t reach you—­when death has parted us—­He who is with us now, and knows all, will be with you then.  It makes no difference—­whether we live or die, we are in the presence of God.”

“Oh, Dinah, won’t nobody do anything for me?  Will they hang me for certain?...I wouldn’t mind if they’d let me live.”

“My poor Hetty, death is very dreadful to you.  I know it’s dreadful.  But if you had a friend to take care of you after death—­in that other world—­some one whose love is greater than mine—­who can do everything?...If God our Father was your friend, and was willing to save you from sin and suffering, so as you should neither know wicked feelings nor pain again?  If you could believe he loved you and would help you, as you believe I love you and will help you, it wouldn’t be so hard to die on Monday, would it?”

“But I can’t know anything about it,” Hetty said, with sullen sadness.

“Because, Hetty, you are shutting up your soul against him, by trying to hide the truth.  God’s love and mercy can overcome all things—­our ignorance, and weakness, and all the burden of our past wickedness—­all things but our wilful sin, sin that we cling to, and will not give up.  You believe in my love and pity for you, Hetty, but if you had not let me come near you, if you wouldn’t have looked at me or spoken to me, you’d have shut me out from helping you.  I couldn’t have made you feel my love; I couldn’t have told you what I felt for you.  Don’t shut God’s love out in that way, by clinging to sin....He can’t bless you while you have one falsehood