SCENE IX
EPHREM. Well, brother! If I am not mistaken, you bring good news.
ABRAHAM. The best in the world.
EPHREM. You have found your lost lamb?
ABRAHAM. I have, and, rejoicing, have brought her back to the fold.
EPHREM. Truly this is the work of divine grace.
ABRAHAM. That is certain.
EPHREM. How is she spending her days? I should like to know how you have ordered her life. What does she do?
ABRAHAM. All that I tell her.
EPHREM. That is well.
ABRAHAM. Nothing is too difficult for her—nothing too hard. She is ready to endure anything.
EPHREM. That is better.
ABRAHAM. She wears a hair shirt, and subdues her flesh with continual vigils and fasts. She is making the poor frail body obey the spirit by the most rigorous discipline.
EPHREM. Only through such a severe penance can the stains left by the pleasures of the flesh be washed away.
ABRAHAM. Those who hear her sobs are cut to the heart, and the tale of her repentance has turned many from their sins.
