them to say that he who errs in one point may as well fail in all? In
questions of faith, my son, nothing is insignificant. If we open one
tower to the enemy he is master of the whole fortress. In these
unsettled times our sacred lore is like a chariot on the declivity of a
precipice, and under the wheels thereof a stone. A child takes away the
stone, and the chariot rolls down into the abyss and is dashed to pieces.
Imagine the princess to be that child, and the stone a loaf that she
would fain give to feed a beggar. Would you then give it to her if your
father and your mother and all that is dear and precious to you were in
the chariot? Answer not! the princess will visit the paraschites again
to-morrow. You must await her in the man's hut, and there inform her
that she has transgressed and must crave to be purified by us. For this
time you are excused from any further punishment.

"Heaven has bestowed on you a gifted soul. Strive for that which is
wanting to you--the strength to subdue, to crush for One--and you know
that One--all things else--even the misguiding voice of your heart, the
treacherous voice of your judgment.--But stay! send leeches to the house
of the paraschites, and desire them to treat the injured girl as though
she were the queen herself. Who knows where the man dwells?"

"The princess," replied Pentaur, "has left Paaker, the king's pioneer,
behind in the temple to conduct the leeches to the house of Pinem."

The grave high-priest smiled and said. "Paaker! to attend the daughter
of a paraschites."

Pentaur half beseechingly and half in fun raised his eyes which he had
kept cast down. "And Pentaur," he murmured, "the gardener's son! who is
to refuse absolution to the king's daughter!"