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Remorse had banished sleep the night before; its voice, so far

from being subdued, was still more absolute-was louder-yet he was

sleepy. The order of his household so long established, the

absolute devotion of his faithful followers, his power and means

of exercising it, its various ramifications, and the objects on

which it was employed, all tended to create uncertainty and

confusion in his mind,-still he was sleepy.

To his bed then he went, that bed which the night before had been

a bed of thorns; but first he knelt to pray. He sought, in the

remotest corner of his memory, the words of prayer taught him in

his days of childhood. They came one by one: an age of vice had

not effaced them. And who shall define the sentiments that

pervaded his soul at this return to the habits of happy

innocence? He slept soundly.

CHAPTER XXV.