"Save me! Save me!" she repeated over and over again.

"Lillian, my poor child, arise." Gently Adoni lifted the crouching figure from the floor. "Speak plainly, little one; calm your fears and tell me from what I can save you------."

"Prom my shame and disgrace," she cried hysterically.

"Shame and disgrace? Child! Oh, child! Shame and disgrace have but one meaning when wrung from a woman's heart in the frenzy of despair. Lillian, tell me, who is the cause of your misery."

"No! No! I dare not tell you - I cannot."

"You must," commanded Adoni sternly, "so that justice may be done to you - and to. - "

"He would kill me if he knew I told."

"Have no fear, child; you will be protected. Did he forbid you to tell of his treachery - your sin?"

"He said that if I told any one he would never speak to me again and would not love me any more - then what would I do?"

"Love is not like that. Love ever seeks to protect the object of its love from sorrow and pain. If the monster in whose clutches you have been so vilely snared had one spark of affection for you, he would have married you long before this. Did he not win your trust with the promise of marriage and did he not tell you he loved you?"

"Oh! yes, many times he said he loved me and talked of marriage but lately things have happened to prevent a marriage just yet but how can I wait much longer? And I love him so."

Laying his hands upon her shoulders, Adoni spoke with gentle authority. "Lillian, it is a woman's nature to shield the enemy of her virtue, however great her shame may be. She protects her seducer from the consequence of his crime. This brave impulse, while it awakens the respect of noble minds, is nevertheless responsible for thousands of desertions such as you face. Secure in the silence of her whom he wronged, the coward goes his own selfish way, leaving the burden of disgrace upon her frail shoulders. Such treachery deserves to be branded. You have a duty to your unborn child that makes it imperative to disclose the name of its father."

Adoni took her hands in his strong clasp, his sorrowful voice fell soothingly upon her stormwrecked soul. "Tell me, Lillian, who has been guilty of this crime against your innocence?"

She hesitated, then won by the compassionate pity of the strong man at her side, she whispered tremulously, "Gerald."

"Who?" exclaimed Adoni incredulously, as the reply was almost inaudible and fell from Lillian's lips in a tragic whisper. Again she repeated the name.

"Impossible! Gerald, the brother of my wife? Child, do you realize whom you are accusing?"

Lillian wrung her hands in agony. "Oh! I should not have told you - why did you insist upon it?"

Adoni paced up and down the aisle in deep agitation, the shock of her confession appalled him. Recovering himself quickly he was again at her side and with infinite tact and gentleness, questioned her further. "Child, were you not aware of the consequences that might arise from your surrender?"

"I sometimes felt that it wasn't just right - but I didn't know what it would do; besides he said that everybody that loves - does that way - I believed him - I did not know - any better. - Mother never told me - anything."

"God!" exclaimed Adoni, pacing the aisle. Up and down, before the altar he strode with a movement that gave evidence of the feeling that raged within his soul. "Oh, God! How long will parents persist in such criminal negligence - sacrificing their children's well-being upon the cross of ignorance and sin, prompted by false modesty called 'virtue,' a modesty as absurd as it is tragic !"

Adorn would have doubted Lillian's veracity had he not known that too many mothers were guilty of just such heedlessness in neglecting to instruct their daughters in the daggers of their sex nature.

Stopping again at Lillian's side, while she was still weeping bitterly, Adoni spoke kindly but with decision: "My dear child, you must tell your mother all without delay; she loves you and will comfort you in your hour of trial."

"No! No! I couldn't tell her - she'd be terribly angry and wouldn't understand. She knows nothing about love - does not even love father. No! No! There is no use in telling her - just make Gerald marry me," she cried again, almost groveling at Adoni's feet. Lillian's sobbing was pitiful in the extreme.

In the face of such great wrong, Adoni realized what a weak mortal he was. He felt as though he was beating his head against the world's bars of impenetrable sin. "Peace, peace," he prayed. "Father, show me the way."

"There is only one way," interrupted Lillian in a tragic whisper - "for Gerald to marry me."

Make Gerald marry her! Scarcely had the echo of his vow died away, ere it came to a test. Adoni stood motionless. He must help this poor forsaken girl - he must. Again he lifted his eyes in silent prayer, then laid his hand upon Lillian's head and in a tone of winning compassion tried to tell her of that great love that heals every affliction.

She listened in seeming wonderment. It was like beginning the lesson at the close of the chapter.

"Lillian, you may think you love Gerald; that your life would be miserable without him, but your love is for what you believe him to be, rather than for what he really is. When you come to discover that he loves you not; that he is selfish and cares for nothing but to gratify his own pleasure; when you would be compelled to suffer indifference and neglect; to endure his sneering taunts and submit to a mere animal passion, you would soon come to loathe him. Even if he could be prevailed upon to marry you, your life would be an unhappy one and your children, born under wrong conditions, would bring you no blessing."

Adoni was well aware that the world would censure him for the unusual advice he was giving Lillian; that it would misjudge his motives but it was to be the first step toward his Calvary. Henceforth it should be his portion to be maligned and misunderstood. So be it. Was the servant better than the Master? His first duty was to save this poor child from plunging into the hell that encompasses a despised and unloved wife; he would not advise her to sacrifice the last shred of self-respect, for mere creature comfort and the world's approval. He would lead her out of the dark wilderness of ignorance and sin and guide her into the light of truth and understanding.