“I am waiting, dear heart,” she said softly, “waiting to hear what you think of my Paul.  I have been wanting so long to tell you; it was on account of William that I waited.  But you know now, and I am so glad—­so glad!  Tell me what you think of him.  There is no one but you who can see all that he is.  And there is no one but him who can see all that you are.  But you two, my dearest, are capable of appreciating each other.  And I am a happy, happy girl.”

He was feeling faint and sick under the hopelessness of any struggle between old love and young love.  With every look of her radiant eyes, with every gentle word that fell from her sweet lips, he was feeling more and more how utterly useless would be any attempt to come between her and her lover.  And looking at her he could not think of making any such attempt.  When an all-absorbing love has taken complete possession of an empty and worldly heart, that heart becomes more powerless before that love, than a fuller and softer heart ever does.  He could not speak, but he murmured something and she went on:—­

“How sweet it is to be here alone with you, like this, in the dear, dark, big, old room.  Why, uncle, dear, it seems only yesterday that you were rocking me in my cradle, over there in the chimney-corner; when you were already petting and spoiling me, just as you have always done.  And to think that I am talking to you to-night about my Paul!  Can you realize that it’s true?  Well, it is—­the very truest thing in all the world.”

She paused for a moment, but she did not observe that he made no response, and she began again:—­

“You see, dear uncle, I didn’t mean to love him.  I meant to love William and I did in a way as I do now.  He is such a good man, but I have found out that goodness, just by itself, is not enough.  It may make love last, but it can’t make it begin.  Why, I never even thought whether my Paul was good or not.  I must have loved him just the same.”

“But you couldn’t love a man if you found out that he was bad, after believing him to be good.  It wouldn’t be possible for you to do that, would it?” in strange, agitated haste.

She lifted her head and looked at him wonderingly.  “I don’t know what you mean.  My Paul is good!  Why, he is here in the wilderness solely for love of humanity, giving his strength, his skill, his time, and all that he has to the service of his country and his kind, just because he is good, and for no other reason.  There is no better man living, not even Father Orin, not even you, sir,” throwing her arms around his knee and giving it a loving squeeze.  “And you know it, too, you are only laughing at me.  I don’t mind at all.  I am too happy to care for teasing.”

She laid her head back on his knees and fell happily silent, gazing dreamily into the flames.  The wind was rising, and went roaring through the trees around the house; but she heard it with the peaceful feeling of shelter and safety that only happiness feels in wild weather.  Presently she asked him if he thought that souls could speak to one another.