"That's true; God works real miracles in him because there is ñaltaMartayMaríneed in the world. Oh, God! what would have become of my soul if these holy missioners had not come to open my eyes!"
"Though they have helped greatly in the way of salvation, still, before they came you were very good and used to attend the Sacraments."
"How little that amounts to, Genoveva, when the deepest nooks and corners of the conscience are not looked into!"
"Tell me, señorita, did you see in your dreams last night that beautiful bird with fiery feathers, with a cross in its bill, which you have seen lately?"
Maria stopped suddenly short and raised her hand to her breast as though she had received a blow. Then she began to walk on again, exclaiming in an undertone,--
"Last night I was not allowed to see it!"
She made no reply. She walked on a while, and a groan escaped her. Then she stopped once more, and throwing her arms around her maid's neck, she began to sob bitterly.
"I am very wicked, Genoveva, very wicked! My heart has not yet been freed from impurities; the flesh and the devil will hold me in their sway. If you knew what a sin I committed yesterday!"
"Hush, hush! don't be discouraged! What sin could you have committed, you lamb?"[8]
"Yes, yes; I am more wicked than you imagine. The more light I receive from God, the deeper I seem to sink into the darkness; the more He heaps blessings upon me, the more ungrateful I am toward Him."
"Beseech the aid of Saint Joseph the blessed; there is no fault which the Lord does not forgive through his intercession. Come, stop crying now; you are going to confession, and all is going to be forgiven."
After the girl had calmed down a little, they proceeded on their way, till they reached a rather diminutive plaza, fronted by the stern, gray façade of a great church which attracted attention neither by its beauty nor by any other quality, good or bad. They crossed a portico, huge and gray like the façade, and entered the temple, which was likewise gray and enormous; these qualities were its only characteristics. It consisted of three naves, the central one broad and lofty like a cathedral; those on the sides narrow and low; all three had been whitewashed at some time very remote, but were now thick with dust, peeling in various places and stained with wide-spread, mysterious spots. The altars, which were profusely adorned, presented a gray color, very distinct from the gilding which originally had covered them. Through its dirty glass could be seen the stiff image of some saint with metal aureole, or the sad anguished face of an Ecce-Homo.