I followed her eagerly
with my eyes, but in a moment she glided over the rocks above
the holy well, and vanished. I persuaded myself that I had seen a
vision, and that the radiant being that had addressed me was one
of the good angels, or guardian spirits, commissioned by the
Almighty to watch over the steps of the just. My first impulse
was to follow her advice, and make my escape home; for I
thought to myself. "How is this interested and mysterious
foreigner a proper judge of the actions of a free Christian?"
The thought was hardly framed, nor had I moved in a retrograde
direction six steps, when I saw my illustrious friend and great
adviser descending the ridge towards me with hasty and
impassioned strides. My heart fainted within me; and, when he
came up and addressed me, I looked as one caught in a trespass.
"What hath detained thee, thou desponding trifler?" said he.
"Verily now shall the golden opportunity be lost which may
never be recalled. I have traced the reprobate to his sanctuary in
the cloud, and lo he is perched on the pinnacle of a precipice an
hundred fathoms high. One ketch with thy foot, or toss with thy
finger, shall throw him from thy sight into the foldings of the
cloud, and he shall be no more seen till found at the bottom of the
cliff dashed to pieces.
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