" These words
tell us the secret of Savonarola's gathering weakness and of Romola's
strength. Self, under the subtle form of identifying truth and right
with his own party--with his own personal judgment of the cause and the
course of right--has so far led _him_ astray from the straight onward
path. Right, in its clear, calm, direct simplicity, has become to her
supreme above what is commonly called salvation itself.
It is another agency than Savonarola's now that brings her back once more
to take up the full burden of her cross. She goes forth not knowing or
heeding whither she goes, "drifting away" unconscious before wind and
wave. These bear her into the midst of terror, suffering, and death; and
there, in self-devotedness to others, in patient ministrations of love
amid poverty, ignorance, and superstition, the noble spirit rights itself
once more, the weary fainting heart regains its quiet steadfastness. She
knows once more that no amount of wrong-doing can dissolve the bond
uniting her to Tito; that no degree of pain may lawfully drive her forth
from that sphere of doing and suffering which is _hers_.
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