the divine seer and singer, we descended shuddering to the nether world.
There the good and noble men of ancient times walked in a flowery meadow,
and among them the poet beheld in solitary grandeur--do you still
remember how the passage runs? 'E solo in parte vidi 'l Saladino.'
Among them he also saw the Moslem Saladin, the conqueror of the
Christians. If any one possessed the key of the mysteries of the other
world, Elizabeth, it was Dante. He assigned a lofty place to the pagan,
who was a true man--a man with a pure mind, a zeal for goodness and
right, and I think I shall have a place there too. Courage, Elizabeth,
courage!"

A beautiful smile had illumined the wife's features, while she was
reminded of the happiest hours of her life, but when he paused, gazed
into her eyes, and clasped her right hand in his, she was seized with an
intense longing to pray once, only once, with him to the Saviour so,
drawing her fingers from his, she pressed the image of the Crucified One
to her breast with her left hand, pleading with mute motions of her lips,
inteligible to him alone, and with ardent entreaty in her large, tearful
eyes: "Pray, pray with me, pray to the saviour."

Lopez was greatly agitated; his heart beat faster, and a strong impulse
urged him to start up, cry "no," and not allow himself to be moved, by an
affectionate meakness, into bowing his manly soul before one, who, to
him, was no more than human.

The noble figure of the crucified Saviour, carved by an artist's hand in
ivory, hung from an ebony cross, and he thrust the image back, intending
to turn proudly way, he gazed at the face and found there only pain,
quiet endurance, and touching sorrow. Ah, his own heart had often bled,
as the pure brow of this poor, persecuted, tortured saint bled beneath