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Ch. XIV.]
the Emperor Napoleon.
157

and conducted by devils to Eblis' dread abode, there to be tormented with "fire unquenched, unquenchable—around, within his form to dwell." The flame had reached his feet and legs, and was proceeding to envelope his wretched body, when he, sinking into the bottomless pit with but his head above the liquid fire, cried out, "Oh! my patron saint, save me! take compassion on me, and throw into the scale of my good deeds all the lime and stone that I gave to repair the convent." His saint listened to the supplications of the tortured one, and gathering all the materials the monk had collected to build and adorn his monastery, did as he desired, and threw them into the scale of good, which immediately had the effect of overbalancing the evil, and the sinner's soul was taken to Paradise that moment. The moral meant to be conveyed was, how useful to that poor sinner's eternal salvation was his having kept his convent in repair; for had he not