“Ah! I am going to die,” exclaimed the Countess.
“No, you are not.”
“Not to die!” shrieked the poor woman, with savage joy.
The youth continued with severity:
“No! because you have never lived. On the contrary, you are to enter the soul-life, which for you will be endless suffering, as for the just it is eternal happiness.”
“Ah! then I am to die,” murmured the patient anew, shedding tears for the first time in her life.
“Countess, you will not die,” again replied the physician, with indescribable majesty.
“Have pity on me,” said the poor woman, regaining hope.
“You will not die,” continued the youth, “because you weep. The soul never dies, and repentance can open to us the doors of eternal life.”