'What dominion sin has usurped over me!' she mentally ejaculated. 'I
have lost the power of resisting its further encroachment. I see the
enormity of the offence I am about to commit, and though my soul revolts
at it, I cannot hold back. I am as one on the brink of a precipice, who
beholds the dreadful gulf before him, into which another step must
plunge him, yet is too giddy to retreat, and must needs fall over. Pity
me, kind Heaven! I am utterly helpless without thy aid.'
