I went about like one distracted,
seeking help where there was no help, and it was only when I went to the
gaol and saw Elizabeth herself--which I was permitted to do for a
farewell--that I found any comfort.
"We must all die one day," she said, "and why not now, in a good cause?"
"Is it a good cause," I cried, "to die for one that is a coward, a
villain, a traitor?"
"Nay," she answered, "you mistake. I die for the cause of charity. I die
to fulfil my Master's command of kindness and mercy."
"But the man was unworthy," I repeated.
"What of that? The love is worthy that would have helped him; the
charity is worthy that would have served him. Gladly do I die for having
lived in love and charity. They are the courts of God's holy house. They
are filled full of peace and joy. In their peace and joy may I abide
until God receives me, unworthy, into His inner temple."
"But the horror of the death! Oh, how can you bear it?"
"God will show me how when the time comes," she said, with the
simplicity of a perfect faith.
[Sidenote: Death by Fire]
And of a truth He did show her; for they that stood by her at the last
testified how her high courage did not fail; no, nor her joy either; for
she laid the straw about her cheerfully for her burning, and thanked God
that she was permitted to die in this cruel manner for a religion that
was all love.
I could not endure to watch that which she could suffer joyfully, but at
first I remained in the outskirts of the crowd.
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