The sick-room peace and indulgence were over, and I must take up the burden of every-day life again.

I was very unhappy, and felt as if I were without stay or guidance.
"To whom am I to go when I am in doubt ?" I said; "you will be so far away." "That is what I want to arrange: the next time you are able to go out, I want to take you to some one who can direct you much better than I." "A priest ?" I asked.

"Tell me one thing: will he give me absolution ?" "I suppose he will, if he finds that you desire it." "What would be the use of going to him for anything else ?" I said.

"It is the only thing that can give me any comfort." "All people do not feel so, Pauline." "But you feel so, dear Sister Madeline, do you not?
You can understand how I am burdened, and how I long to have the bands undone ?" "Yes, Pauline, I can understand." I am not inclined to give much weight to my own opinions, and as for my feelings, I know they were, then, those of a child, and in many ways will always be.

I can only say what comforted me, and what I longed for.
There had always been great force to me, in the Scripture that says, "Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained," even before I felt the burden of my sins.
I had once seen the ordination of a priest, and I suppose that added to the weight of the words ever after in my mind.