None might counsel her,
none might direct her. She must choose and choose alone. Not in fear of
punishment, for this was not possible to her. Not in hope of glory, for
that she must inherit, but only for the hope's sake that she might--save
a soul alive.
Out of her deep heart's infinite love and charity thus she chose in
atonement of her mortal sin. And as she chose the great arc of Heaven
above her, that had been grey and silent, burst to splendour and to
song.
So Barbara for a while bade farewell to those who loved her, bade
farewell to Anthony her heart's heart. Once more, alone, utterly alone,
she laid her on the couch in the great chamber with the translucent dome
and thence her spirit was whirled back through nothingness to the hell
of Earth, there to be born again in the child of the evil woman, that it
might save a soul alive.
Thus did the sweet and holy Barbara--Barbara who came back--in atonement
of her sin.
For her reward, as she fights on in hope, she has memory and such
visions as are written here.
THE END
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Smith and the Pharaohs, and Other Tales, by
Henry Rider Haggard
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SMITH AND THE PHARAOHS ***
***** This file should be named 6073.
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