I can't endure it; it maddens me. If she is not saved from that
wretched fate, I shall die despairing, I shall die cursing--"

The Minister sternly stopped her before she could say the next
word. To my astonishment she appeared to be humbled, to be even
ashamed: she asked his pardon: "Forgive me; I won't forget myself
again. They tell me you have no children of your own. Is that a
sorrow to you and your wife?"

Her altered tone touched him. He answered sadly and kindly: "It
is the one sorrow of our lives."

The purpose which she had been keeping in view from the moment
when the Minister entered her cell was no mystery now. Ought I to
have interfered? Let me confess a weakness, unworthy perhaps of
my office. I was so sorry for the child--I hesitated.

My silence encouraged the mother. She advanced to the Minister
with the sleeping infant in her arms.

"I daresay you have sometimes thought of adopting a child?" she
said. "Perhaps you can guess now what I had in my mind, when
I asked if you would consent to a sacrifice? Will you take this
wretched innocent little creature home with you?" She lost her
self-possession once more. "A motherless creature to-morrow,"
she burst out. "Think of that."

God knows how I still shrunk from it! But there was no
alternative now; I was bound to remember my duty to the excellent
man, whose critical position at that moment was, in some degree