"
"Yes, but not this disgrace--this badge of her shame!"
"Faith, Faith! let me beg of you not to speak so of the little
innocent babe, who may be God's messenger to lead her back to
Him. Think again of her first words--the burst of nature from her
heart! Did she not turn to God, and enter into a covenant with
Him--'I will be so good'? Why, it draws her out of herself! If
her life has hitherto been self-seeking and wickedly thoughtless,
here is the very instrument to make her forget herself, and be
thoughtful for another. Teach her (and God will teach her, if man
does not come between) to reverence her child; and this reverence
will shut out sin,--will be purification."
He was very much excited; he was even surprised at his own
excitement; but his thoughts and meditations through the long
afternoon had prepared his mind for this manner of viewing the
subject.
"These are quite new ideas to me," said Miss Benson coldly. "I
think you, Thurstan, are the first person I ever heard rejoicing
over the birth of an illegitimate child. It appears to me, I must
own, rather questionable morality."
"I do not rejoice. I have been all this afternoon mourning over
the sin which has blighted this young creature; I have been
dreading lest, as she recovered consciousness, there should be a
return of her despair. I have been thinking of every holy word,
every promise to the penitent--of the tenderness which led the
Magdalen aright.
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