These words had exhausted her; it was evident to me that she wanted some rest. I left her alone, but I was absolutely beside myself. Filled with admiration for the sublime lessons which I had received from the lips of that angel, who, it was evident, was soon to fly away from us, I felt a supreme disgust for myself, my theologians, and--shall I say it? yes--I felt, in that solemn hour, a supreme disgust for my Church, which was so cruelly defiling me and all the priests, in the confessional-box. I felt in that hour a supreme horror for that auricular confession, which is so often such a pit of perdition and supreme misery for the confessor and the penitent. I went out, walked two hours on the Plains of Abraham, to breathe the pure and refreshing air of the mountain. There alone I sat on a stone, on the very spot where Wolf and Montcalm had fought and died, and wept to my heart's content on my irreparable degradation, and the degradation of all the priests through the confessional. At four o'clock in the afternoon I went back again to the house of my dear dying Mary. The mother took me apart, and very politely said, "My dear Mr. Chiniquy, do you not think that it is time that our dear child should receive the last sacraments? She seemed to be much better this morning, and we were full of hope; but she is now rapidly sinking. Please lose no time in giving her the holy viaticum and the extreme unction." I said, "Yes, Madam; let me pass a few minutes alone with our poor dear child, that I may prepare her for the last sacraments." When alone with her, I again fell on my knees, and, amidst torrents of tears, I said, "Dear sister, it is my desire to give you the holy viaticum and the extreme unction; but tell me, how can I dare to do a thing so solemn against all the prohibitions of our holy Church? How can I give you the holy communion without first giving you absolution? and how can I give you absolution when you earnestly persist in telling me that you have committed sins which you will never declare either to me or any other confessor? "You know that I cherish and respect you as if you were an angel sent to me from heaven. You told me the other day that you blessed the day that you first saw and knew me. I say the same thing. I bless the day that I have known you; I bless every hour that I have passed by your bed of suffering; I bless every tear which I have shed with you on your sins and on my own; I bless every hour that we have passed together in looking to the wounds of our beloved, dying Saviour; I bless you for having forgiven me your death! for I know it, and I confess it a thousand times in the presence of God, I have killed you, dear sister. But now I prefer a thousand times to die than to say to you a word which would pain you in any way, or trouble the peace of your soul. Please, my dear sister, tell me what I can and must do for you in this solemn hour."