“Such a judgment would seem to me narrow.  I was fortunate in coming under the influence of a broad-minded religious teacher.  To my statement of doubts he simply said:  ’Believe what you can; live the very best you can, and keep your mind open toward the light.’  It seems to me now this is all that anyone can do whose nature will not permit of blind, unquestioning faith.  To require more of ordinary human beings is unreasonable, for God gave us mind and ability to think.”

There was a pause, so breathless they could hear the rustle of the leaves in the almost motionless air, while the strains of gay music floating from the open windows sounded loud and strident.

“I am so glad you have spoken in that way,” she confessed.  “I shall never feel quite so much alone in the world again, and I shall see these matters from a different viewpoint.  Is it wrong—­unwomanly, I mean—­for me to question spiritual things?”

“I am unable to conceive why it should be.  Surely woman ought to be as deeply concerned in things spiritual as man.”

“How very strange it is that we should thus drift into such an intimate talk at our second meeting!” she exclaimed.  “But it seems so easy, so natural, to converse frankly with some people—­they appear to draw out all that is best in one’s heart.  Then there are others who seem to parch and wither up every germ of spiritual life.”

“There are those in the world who truly belong together,” he urged, daringly.  “They belong to each other by some divine law.  They may never be privileged to meet; but if they do, the commingling of their minds and souls is natural.  This talk of ours to-night has, perhaps, done me as much good as you.”

“Oh, I am so glad if it has!  I—­I do not believe you and Miss Spencer conversed in this way?”

“Heaven forbid!  And yet it might puzzle you to guess what was the main topic of our conversation.”

“Did it interest you?”

“Deeply.”

“Well, then, it could not be dress, or men, or Western romance, or society in Boston, or the beautiful weather.  I guess it was books.”

“Wrong; they were never mentioned.”

“Then I shall have to give up, for I do not remember any other subjects she talks about.”

“Yet it was the most natural topic imaginable—­yourself.”

“You were discussing me?  Why, how did that happen?”

“Very simply, and I was wholly to blame.  To be perfectly honest, Miss Naida, I attended the dance to-night for no other object than to meet you again.  But I had argued myself into the belief that you were Miss Spencer.  The discovery of my mistake merely intensified my determination to learn who you really were.  With this purpose, I interviewed Miss Spencer, and during the course of our conversation the facts of my first meeting with you became known.”

“You told her how very foolish I acted?”