"Friend, if thou wert to suffer for ten thousand years, without a moment's intermission, thy sins could never be balanced by thy sufferings. Suffering is finite; sin is infinite. It is not only what thou hast done, or hast left undone. The sin of thy whole nature requires atonement. _Thou_ art sin! The love of sin which is in thee is worse than any act of sin thou couldst commit. What then is to be done with thy sins?" Leuesa looked up with an expression of wistful simplicity in her blue eyes. She might be older than her years in some respects, thought Gerhardt, but there were some others in which she was a very child. "I don't know!" she said blankly, with a frightened accent. "Can't you tell me?" "Thank God, I can tell thee. Thou must get rid of this load of sin, by laying it on Him who came down from Heaven that He might bear it for thee. Tell me whom I mean." The flaxen head was shaken. "I can't--not certainly. Perhaps it's a saint I don't know." "Dost thou not know Jesu Christ?" "Oh, of course. He's to judge us at the last day." "If He save thee not before He judge thee, thou wilt never be saved. Dost thou not know He is the Saviour of men?" "Well, I've heard say so, but I never thought it meant any thing." "It means every thing to sinners. Now, how art thou about to come by the salvation that Christ has wrought for thee?" "The priest will give me some, won't he?" "He hath it not to give thee. Thou must go straight to the Lord Himself." "But I can't go save through the Church. And oh dear, but I should be frightened to have aught to do with Him! Except when He's a baby, and then we've got our Lady to intercede for us." "Art thou, then, very much afraid of me?" "You? Oh no! You're coming with me to take care of me--aren't you?" "I am. But what am I doing for thee, in comparison of Him who died for thee? Afraid of the Lord that laid down His life for thine! Why, Maiden, there is nought in His heart for thee save love and pity and strength to help. He loved thee--get it into thy mind, grave it deep in thy soul--He loved thee, and gave His life for thee." "Me?" Leuesa had come to a sudden stand. "You don't mean _me_?" "I mean thee, and none other." "Mother always says I'm so stupid, nobody will ever care for me. I thought--I never heard any body talk like that. I thought it was only the very greatest saints that could get near Him, and then only through the Church." "Thou and I are the Church, if Christ saves us." "Oh, what do you mean? The priests and bishops are the Church. At least they say so."