I have plunged an innocent woman into misery, and made myself indeed a
sinner. As soon as it is light I will go down to the oasis and confess
to Petrus and Dorothea what I have done. They will punish me, and I will
honestly help them, so that nothing of the penance that they may lay upon
me may be remitted. The less mercy I show to myself, the more will the
Eternal judge show to me."

He rose, considered the position of the stars, and when he perceived that
morning was not far off, he prepared to return to Sirona, who was no
longer any more to him than an unhappy woman to whom he owed reparation
for much evil, when a loud cry of distress in the immediate vicinity fell
on his ear.

He mechanically stooped to pick up a stone for a weapon, and listened.
He knew every rock in the neighborhood of the spring, and when the
strange groan again made itself heard, he knew that it came from a spot
which he knew well and where he had often rested, because a large flat
stone supported by a stout pillar of granite, stood up far above the
surrounding rocks, and afforded protection from the sun, even at noonday,
when not a hand's breath of shade was to be found elsewhere.

Perhaps some wounded beast had crept under the rock for shelter from the
rain. Paulus went cautiously forward. The groaning sounded louder and
more distinct than before, and beyond a doubt it was the voice of a human
being.

The anchorite hastily threw away the stone, fell upon his knees, and soon
found on the dry spot of ground under the stone, and in the farthermost
nook of the retreat, a motionless human form.