She saw the heavy frown upon his brow; she marked the change which had come over him--the cloud which seemed to envelop him.

She knew that he was bowed to the ground with shame and humiliation, and with that sort of fierce despair of which she had seen glimpses in his nature before now.
Suddenly all the old tenderness rushed over her as in a flood.

She forgot her sense of disappointment in his lack of firmness; she forgot how he had boasted of his courage and devotion, and how, in the time of temptation and trial, he had let himself be persuaded to take the easier path; she forgot all save that he had loved her, and that she had loved him, and that love can surmount all things, because its essence is divine.

If he had fallen, he had suffered keenly.

Suffering was stamped upon every line of his face.
Was not God's love for sinners so great that before the world repented of its wickedness He gave His Son to die for an atonement and expiation?
Must we then not love those who err, and who repent of their weakness?
Nay, are we not all sinners, all weak, all frail and feeble beings in weak mortal bodies?
Shall we judge and condemn one another?
Shall we not rather seek to strengthen one another by love and tenderness, and so lead one another onward in the way which leads to life everlasting?
These thoughts rushed like a flood through Freda's mind as she watched through a mist of tears the throwing of the fagots and the books upon the fire at Carfax.