oat.

"My father," interposed the nun. "He has confessed. God will forgive,
even as I."

"Who are you?" asked the blind priest, fearfully.

"The woman!" cried the dying man shaking off the other's hand and
lifting himself up.

The sight came back to the priest on the instant. The fierce agony that
filled his blinded eyes seemed to give place to the gentle touch of a
hand upon them. He seemed to hear a mighty word--_Ephphatha_--that meant
"be opened." Light flooded his soul. Looking up he was aware of two
figures. One of the twain, an old man, gray bearded, was appealing to
the other, clad in white raiment and youthful. And the priest suddenly
recalled an old and well-known story of a fellow servant who would not
have mercy.

"Father, forgive--" whispered the man before him.

As the voice of the dying sinner died away in the silence all was dark
again. The priest saw no more, but the horrible pain in his eyes did not
return. Over his torn features came a look of calm. He lifted his arm.
His wavering hand cut the air in the sign of the cross.

"_Absolvo te_," he murmured as he pitched forward dead upon the breast
of the dying.

And the woman tenderly covered them over.

[Illustration: _Absolvo te._]




X

The Giver of Life

"HE THAT EATETH OF THIS BREAD SHALL LIVE FOREVER"




X

The Giver of Life


Of the five specters in the boat three were without life. Those whose
faint breathing indicated that they had not yet reached the point of
death were too weak and indifferent to rid the boat of the bodies of the
others. Ever since the homeward-bound whaler had struck a derelict in a
gale of wind north of the Falklands and foundered, this little boat,
surviving the shipwreck as by a miracle, had drifted on.

For three weeks in vain they had scanned the horizon for a sail. Their
scanty supply of bread and water had been consumed in ten days.
Thereafter they had nothing. The baby had died first, next a man whose
arm had been broken by a falling spar in the disast

William Babington Maxwell (18661938) was a British novelist. He was a son of novelist Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Though nearly 50 years old at the outbreak of the First World War, he was accepted as a lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers and served in France until 1917.

Cyrus Townsend Brady (December 20, 1861 January 24, 1920) was a journalist, historian and adventure writer. His most well-known work is Indian Fights and Fighters. He was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1883. He was also a deacon in the Episcopal church. His first wife was Clarissa Guthrie, who died in 1890. His second wife was Mary Barrett.

Rebecca Sophia Clarke (1833-1906), also known as Sophie May, was an American author of childrens fiction. Using her nieces and nephews as inspiration, she wrote realistic stories about children. She wrote 45 books between 1860 and 1903. The most popular being the Little Prudy books. She lived most of her life in her native town of Norridgewock, Maine, where she lived out her life with her sister, who was also a successful author.