"Cease, dearest Claudia," cried Naomi, approaching the unhappy girl, who shrunk from her as if she felt unworthy of the sympathy of one so pure and good as her friend appeared in her eyes; "compose yourself, for you are labouring under some painful delusion. Why did I let you leave us this morning, and not follow you and bring you back to Judith? I thought you were with my mother, and that her kind sympathy would soothe your mind." "Why did I leave you, indeed, Naomi!" replied Claudia; "you would have saved me from this crime. Let me speak it all, for my heart will break if I do not confess my sin. I have written a letter to Theophilus, and ere this he has received and read it. I have implored him for my sake to deny his Redeemer,--for my sake to make a profession of returning to Judaism! I told him that he would be my murderer if he spoke the word that would seal his condemnation to-morrow. Oh! I said more than all that--I sought to make myself his idol, and to cause his love for one so despicable to stand between him and his God! He will not heed my guilty ravings, for he is too holy to be infected with such base weakness. But he will loathe me, and despise me as I deserve; and when he is a pure and blessed saint in heaven, I shall have lost the only consolation that could have remained to me--that of knowing that his heart was mine until it ceased to beat; and hoping that when mine was cold in death my spirit might soar above, and join him in those realms of peace which Jesus Christ has promised to those who are _faithful to the end_." Judith and Naomi were filled with horror and alarm at this passionate declaration of Claudia's. They grieved deeply that she should have fallen into such a snare of the evil one, and thus have added another and a most bitter trial to those which now surrounded Theophilus. They did not apprehend that his faith would be shaken in the slightest degree; but they knew that nothing could make death so dreadful to him as the belief that Claudia was wavering and unsteady in the religion which he had delighted to teach her, and that when he was no longer at her side, she might sink back into comparative darkness and unbelief. The depth and sincerity of her repentance were most evident to them; and all they now desired was to soothe and tranquillize her mind, and to find some means of conveying to Theophilus the assurance that she was not so unworthy of his affections as her recent conduct might lead him to suppose.