Those emotions which you experienced on first seeing her,
and for which you were inclined to reproach yourself, were after all
perfectly human, and therefore natural and pardonable. I needn't tell
you now that I entirely disagree with those who consider that a man
should cease to be a man when he becomes a clergyman. You are young, and
you are made of flesh and blood. You were once very much in love with
this young lady"--there was a slight, almost imperceptible emphasis upon
the "once" which somehow made Vane wince--"you might have married her,
but you forewent that happiness in obedience to a conviction which would
have done honour to the best of us. You would have been either more or
less than human if your heart had not beaten a little harder and your
blood had not flowed a little faster when you met her unexpectedly like
that in a country road.

"But," he went on, sitting up in his chair and speaking with a little
more emphasis, "the very fact that you so quickly discovered such a
decided change in her, and that that change, moreover, struck you as
being one for the worse, is to my mind a distinct proof that your paths
in life have already diverged very widely."

"And yet, Father Philip," said Vane, as the old man paused and looked up
at him, "you can hardly say, surely, that it was a good thing for me to
discover that change. I can tell you honestly that it was a very sad one
for me."

"Possibly," said Father Philip, "and, without intending the slightest
disrespect to Mrs. Garthorne, I still say that it was a good thing for
you to discover it."

"But why, Father Philip? How can it be a good thing for a man to
discover a change for the worse in a woman whom he has grown up with
from boy and girl, whom he has loved, and who has been to him the ideal
of all that was good and lovable on earth?"

"My dear Maxwell, what you have just said convinces me that you have
learnt or are in course of learning one of the most valuable lessons
that experience can teach you. Remember that a man can only see with his
own eyes, that he can only judge from his own perceptions. I do not
agree with you in thinking that the Mrs. Garthorne of the present
differs so greatly from the Miss Raleigh of the past. Different in a
certain degree, of course, she must be. She was a girl then, living
under the protection of her father's roof. She is a wife now, with a
home of her own, with new cares, new responsibilities, new prospects. In
fac