"Sentenced! Merciful Heaven!" shrieked Pulcheria, and as she started up
her mother cried out:

"For God's sake do not jest about such things, it is a sin.--Is it true?
--Is it possible? Those wretches, those... I see in your face it is
true; they have condemned Paula."

"As you say," replied Horapollo calmly. "The girl is to be executed."

"And you only tell us now?" wept Pulcheria, while Mary broke out:

"And yet you have been able to jest and laugh, and you--I hate you! And
if you were not such a helpless, old, old man. . ." But here Joanna
again silenced the child, and she asked between her sobs:

"Executed?--Will they cut off her head? And is there no mercy for her
who was as far away from that luckless fight as we were--for her, a girl,
and the daughter of Thomas?"

To which the old man replied:

"Wait a while, only wait! Heaven has perhaps chosen her for great ends.
She may be destined to save a whole country and nation from destruction
by her death. It is even possible. . ."

"Speak out plainly; you make me shudder with your oracular hints," cried
the widow; but he only shrugged his shoulders and said coolly:

"What we foresee is not yet known. Heaven alone can decide in such a
case. It will be well for us all--for me, for her, for Pulcheria, and