But she, who had lived no life, and done no work—­only had pined through weary years of hideous suffering; crippled and ulcerated with scrofula, now dying of consumption:  was it not a merciful dream, a beautiful dream, a just dream—­so beautiful and just, that perhaps it might be true,—­that in some fairer world, all this, and more, might be made up to her?  If not, was it not a mistake and an injustice, that she should ever have come into the world at all?  And was not Grace doing a rational as well as a loving work, in telling her, under whatsoever symbols, that such a home of rest and beauty awaited her?  It was not the sort of place to which he expected, perhaps even wished, to go:  but it fitted well enough with a young girl’s hopes, a young girl’s powers of enjoyment.  Let it be; perhaps there was such a place,—­why not?—­fitted for St. Dorothea, and those cut off in youth like her; and other places fit for such as he.  And he spoke more tenderly than usual (though he was never untender), as he said,—­

“And you feel better to-day?  I am sure you must, with such a kind friend, to tell you such sweet tales.”

“I do not feel better, thank you.  And why should I wish to do so?  You all take too much trouble about me; why do you want to keep me here?”

“We are loth to lose you; and besides, while you can be kept here, it is a sign that you ought to be here.”

“So Grace tells me.  Yes, I will be patient, and wait till He has done His work.  I am more patient now; am I not, Grace?” And she fondled Grace’s hand, and looked up in her face.

“Yes,” said Grace, who was standing near, with downcast face, trying to avoid Tom’s eye.  “Yes, you are very good; but you must not talk:”  but the girl went on, with kindling eye,—­

“Ah—­I was very fretful at first, because I could not go to heaven at once:  but Grace showed me how it was good to be here, as well as there, as long as He thought that I might be made perfect by sufferings.  And since then, my pain has become quite pleasant to me, and I am ready to wait and bear—­wait and bear.”

“You must not talk,—­see, you are beginning to cough,” said Tom, who wished somehow to stop a form of thought which so utterly puzzled him.  Not that he had not heard it before; commonplace enough indeed it is, thank God:  but that day the words came home to him with spirit and power, all the more solemnly from their contrast with the scene around—­without, all sunshine, joy, and glory:  all which could tempt a human being to linger here:  and within, that young girl longing to leave it all, and yet content to stay and suffer.  What mysteries there were in the human spirit—­mysteries to which that knowledge of mankind on which he prided himself gave him no key!

“What if I were laid on my back to-morrow for life, by a fall, a blow, as I have seen many a better man than me;—­should I not wish to have one to talk to me, as she was talking to that child?” And for a moment a yearning after Grace came over him, as it had done before, and swept from his mind the dark cloud of suspicion.