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THE HAND THAT TURNS BACK.
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action out of him is invisible and mystical, like that which makes trees blossom and fruit, and Jonathan, in the pitiful, holy work of saving life, had never once remembered that it was the life of his bitterest enemy. Not until he was alone again did he take notice of his blood-stained hands and clothes, and recollect, with a shudder, whose blood it was.
Oh, if he had been thus stained with taking life instead of sparing it! For one awful moment he had a revelation of a murderer's terror and remorse; the next, his heart rose in a wave of gratitude and found expression in a fervent, audible "Thank God! thank God!" And all the way home he was ejaculating, "It might have been! But for his mercy! God forgive me! God forgive me!"
