o-day you stand at the threshold
of another and higher one. So progress must ever be, I now realize. Up
we must rise from one plane of human mentality to another, sifting and
sorting the thoughts that come to us, clinging to these, discarding
those, until, even as you have said, we learn at last instantly to
accept those that mirror forth God, infinite, divine mind, and to
reject those that bear the stamp of supposition."

"Padre," the girl said, lifting her beautiful face to his, "I have
told you so often--when a thought comes to me that I think is not from
God, or does not reflect Him, I turn right on it and kill it. You
could do the same, if you would."

"Assuredly, child--if I would!" he replied in bitterness of heart. "So
could all mankind. And then the millennium would be with us, and the
kingdom of heaven revealed. The mesmeric belief in evil as an entity
and a power opposed to good alone prevents that. Destroy this belief,
and the curtain will instantly rise on eternity."

His eyes struggled with hers, as he gazed long and wistfully into
them. Lost in his impassioned speech, he had for the moment seemed to
be translated. Then a surge of fear-thoughts swept him, and left him
dwelling on the hazardous journey that awaited her. He wildly clutched
her again to his side.

"Carmen--child--how can I let you go! So young, so tender! And that
awful journey--two hundred miles of unknown jungle, to the far-off
Nechi! And then the burning river, to Cartagena, where--where _he_ is!
And the States--God, what awaits you there!"

"Padre," she answered softly, "I shall not go unless it is right. If
it is right, then God will take care of me--and of you."

Again she saw only the "right-best" thought, while he sat trembling
before its opposite. And the opposite was as yet a supposition!

"Padre dear, there is no separation, you know. God is everywhere, and
so there is no separation from good--is there?"

"Not in your thought, dearest child," he murmured huskily.

"Well, Padre dear, I am still with you, am I not? Can't you live one
day at a time? That is what Jesus taught us. You are borrowing from
to-morrow, and you have no right to do it. That's stealing. God says,
'Thou shalt not steal,' even from to-morrow."

Yes, she was still at his side. Perhaps she would not go, after all.
He was borrowing, and borrowing supposition. The thought seemed to
lighten his load momentarily.

"Padre dear."

"Yes, _chiquita_."

"Yo