But when one hasn't a soul at all, I beg you, what is there to attune then?
and that is my case." The priest was silent and deeply wounded, and with holy displeasure he turned his face from the girl.

She, however, went up to him caressingly, and said: "No! listen to me first, before you look angry, for your look of anger gives me pain, and you must not give pain to any creature who has done you no wrong--only have patience with me, and I will tell you properly what I mean." It was evident that she was preparing herself to explain something in detail, but suddenly she hesitated, as if seized with an inward shuddering, and burst out into a flood of tears.

They none of them knew what to make of this ebullition, and filled with various apprehensions they gazed at her in silence.

At length, wiping away her tears, and looking earnestly at the reverend man, she said: "There must be something beautiful, but at the same time extremely awful, about a soul.

Tell me, holy sir, were it not better that we never shared such a gift ?" She was silent again as if waiting for an answer, and her tears had ceased to flow.