The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-09-26

Then indeed his antagonism and re-
bellion would be of the nature Of some
feeble, soft-bodied moth futtering
against an express train, and hoping to
stop it. There was something author
itative, too, about the words. It was
not as when Scribes or Pharisees spoke.
Somehow, also lit was impossible
authority not Only about nN' coehran's
words, but about his life. The things
which he said were borne out by what
he did, and it seemed as if it was not
his temperament that determined his
words and actions, but as if his words
and actions, based on his belief, gave
rise, rise to an y: absolutely happy tem Ipt;ca
never came near him, but what to
Thurso was almost more remarkable, it
appeared that the innumerable little
frets and inconvenience which are, he
would have said, insepaFable from the
ordinary life of every day, were I'M
able to touch him. Round him there
seemed to be- some atmosphere as Of
high mountain places in which these
bacteria Of worry could not live;
happy, childlike eyes. A child's faith.
as Maud had recognized last summer.
shone there, and is was backed up and
supported by the knowledge and ex-
perience Of a man. Like all faith, it
was instructive, and every day Of his
life proved the truth Of his instinct.
And if either Thurso or Maud could
Gus was the struggle going on all the
time within him, between the desire Of
his human nature and the absolutely
fixed knowledge that he had no right
to use this intimacy into which he was
thrown with Maud, by his call to cure
her brother, for his own ends, they
would have said that miracle was
going on before their eyes. The waves
of desire, the longing for her, and,
edge that he loved her with all the
best that was in him, continually beat
upon him, but the abiding place Of his
soul was absolutely unmoved by the
surrounding tumult, and not for
moment was his serenity troubled. He
often talked to her alone, and their
talk would be Of Thurso, or of this
markedly getting better, or it ranged
more specifically over the topics of
every day.
It was the third day after he had
come to Long Island, and he and Maud
were sitting together alone in the hour
before evening closed in. The weather
this morning had suddenly broken, and
instead of the MINDLESS, sunny frost
southeasterly gale set chimneys smok-
ing, ice melting, and drove torrents Of
cold rain against the windows of the
ment was wiping her eyes, which the
pungency Of the wood smoke had
caused to overflow.
"You were quite right" she said,
"when you warned me not to have the
fire lit here. And what makes it more
annoying is that you don't weep also.
I think we had better move into the
other room, if you will. I can't
stand it, @n... ~.
The other room was the billiard
room, where they did not often sit. It
was free from smoke, however, and
the fire prospered. Thurso had gone
upstairs half an hour ago to write
letters, and had not come back yet.
"He is 50 much better,' said she, as
she settled herself into comfortable
c Aair. ellis recovery has been quite
steady, to- Do you any longer fear
"Oh, I never feared it, said he.
Gin the sense that I ever feared it
would battle us. How could it? I
only told you that when error has gone
very deep you sometimes tap sort of
fresh reservoir of it, even when you
seem to be coming to the end of it.
Ut course that may not happen.
but I have seen sudden attacks
and onslaughts of very violent
kind, even when I thought that
the cure was nearly complete"
"Four days only!" said Maud.
cit is only four days since you really
began to treat him. Surely he has
made marvellous progress
"Oh, he has,
"You have looked serene enough"
said she. .E -.
and complete conviction Of the ON
impotence of All-Power that you fight
error. If you abandon that, what are
you to fight them withs''
He looked at her, and for the mo-
ment he felt that his love must betray
itself, by word or gesture, in spite Of
himself. And surely there was some
answering struggle going on in her.
Was it only sympathy, only gratitude
for what he had done, that shone in
I. D,,4 IL oI,