insomuch that he 
shook and grew ashy pale before her eyes. In this man's 
memory, there was something that made it awful for him 
to think of prayer ; nor would any  be more intol- 
erable, than to be reminded of such divine  and 
succor as await pious  merely for the asking. This 
wordnetanger was perhaps the token of a native temperament 
deeply susceptible of religious impressions, but which 
had been wronged, violated, and debased, until, at length, 
it was capable only of wordnetfear from the sources that were 
intended for our purest and loftiest . He 
looked so fearfully at her, and with such intense  
struggling in his eyes, that Miriam felt . 

And, now, all at once, it struck her that he might be 
mad. It was an idea that had never before seriously 
occurred to her mind, although, as soon as suggested, it 
fitted marvellously into many circumstances that lay 
within her knowledge. But, alas ! such was her evil 
fortune, that, whether mad or no, his power over her 
remained the same, and was likely to be used only the 
more tyramiously, if exercised by a lunatic. 

" I would not give you ," she said, soothingly ; 
 your faith allows you the  of  and 
absolution. Try what help there may be in