No selfish views _can_ have brought these good people, father, to claim affinity with me at a moment like this." "It comes from the goodness of God, son.

By letting you feel the consolation of this filial love, and by awakening in your own bosom the spark of parental affection, he foreshadows the fruits of his own mercy and tenderness to the erring but penitent.

Acknowledge his bounty in your soul; it may bring a blessing on your last moment." "Holy priest, I hope I do.

But what says this?
--" Don Francesco took a note from the hand of a servant and read its contents eagerly; the world and its feelings having too much hold on his heart to be plucked out in an instant.

Indeed so sudden had been his arrest, trial, and conviction, that it is not surprising the priest found in him a divided spirit, even at an instant like that.