From your own lips it is manifest that you had not even sound assurance of the guilt you professed to punish.

It may be that the man had not wronged you as you supposed.

A little patience, a little of the calm which becomes a reasoning soul, and you might not only have saved yourself from crime, but have resolved what must now ever be a doubt to your harassed thoughts.' 'Such words did Veranilda herself speak,' exclaimed Basil.

'And I, in my frenzy, thought them only a lamentation for the death of her lover.' 'Call it frenzy; but remember, O my son, that no less a frenzy was every act of your life, and every thought, which led you on the path to that ultimate sin.

Frenzy it is to live only for the flesh; frenzy, to imagine that any good can come of aught you purpose without beseeching the divine guidance.' Much else did the abbot utter in this vein of holy admonition.