Paul held out his hand with a smile. "You may count the beats in my pulse," he said; "and if you tell me this is my last night on earth, they will not vary in the least. I acknowledge my crimes and throw myself on the mercy of the Judge of all the earth. I have an Advocate who has promised to save me, one whose word has never failed." "What does he mean?" queried the Doctor, wonderingly. "It means, that whereas I was once blind, now I see. Whereas, I once loved sin and rolled it as a sweet morsel under my tongue, now I hate it and long to escape from it. In heaven I shall be free, and I long to be there." "Your wish will soon be realized," murmured the Doctor, putting his ear down to the sick man's breast. "A week at farthest and you will have done with time." "And eternity will have commenced," Paul added, clasping his hands. But the physician's prophecy was not fulfilled. The very next day, Paul was so much worse, his kind friends gathered around his bed to bid him farewell. For the first time since their reunion he held Gertrude's hand in his, saying feebly, as he grasped it: "Only this once;" then thanked her for all her forbearance and kindness. He earnestly reiterated his request for forgiveness, pleading; "The words are so sweet, so sweet." Then he repeated the inspired command; "'Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good.' That is what you have done; what Christ has helped you to do; what he himself has done for me; good for evil; blessing for cursing." Suddenly he requested all but Mr. and Mrs. Wallingford to leave the room, and pointing to a small box, asked Gertrude to take from, it a letter. Enclosed in a soiled, worn envelope, was the epistle she had written him, announcing the birth of a son, whom she had named Paul, for his father; and in which she plead with him to come home to a wife who loved and trusted him as well as ever. "I did not receive it till after I got the paper from Edward," he explained, gasping. "I want you to keep it. It is the only treasure I have in the world; and if you are willing, tell our boy his father repented of his sins and trusted in the mercy of God through Christ. Tell him to make up to his mother for all the sorrow I have caused her. I shalt want to see him in heaven." After awhile his distress became so great, Gertrude was wholly unnerved, and her brother led her from the room. "He's just gone," the physician said, hearing the ominous rattle in his throat; but at this moment, the crisis came. A large ulcer, which had been forming on his lungs broke; and for a few moments he seemed to be suffocating. Then he fell back completely prostrated, and for an hour there was scarcely any sign of life.