made no answer.

"Had God waited for us to love Him," resumed the eremitess, "where had
we been now? `We love Him, because He first loved us.'"

"He never loved me," answered Philippa, mournfully.

"He loved me so much," said the Grey Lady, softly, "that He made the way
rough, that He might help me over it; He made the waters deep, that He
might carry me through them; He caused the rain to fall heavily, that I
might run to Him for shelter; He made `mine earthly house of this
tabernacle' dreary and cold, that I might find the rest, and light, and
warmth of His home above so much the sweeter. Yea, He made me
friendless, that I might seek and find in Jesu Christ the one Friend who
would never forsake me, the one love that would never weary nor wax
cold."

Philippa shook her head. She had never looked at her troubles in this
light "But if the way be thus rough, and yet you will walk in it alone,
though your feet be bleeding; if the waters be deep, and yet you will
strive to ford them unaided; if the house be drear and lonely, and yet
you will not rise up and go home--is it any wonder that you are
sorrowful, or that you do not know Him whose love you put thus away from
you? And you tell me that God's love were better to you than none!
Better than none!--better than any, better than all! Man's love can
save from some afflictions, I grant: but from how many it can not! Can
human love keep you from sickness?--from sorrow?--from poverty?--from
death? Yet the love of Christ can take the sting from all these,--can
keep you calm and peaceful through them all. They will remain, and you
will feel them; but the sting will be gone. There will be an underlying
calm; the wind may ruffle the surface, but it cannot reach beneath. The
lamb is safe in the arms of the Shepherd, but it does not hold itself
there. He who shed His blood for us on the rood keepeth us safe, and
none shall be able to pluck us out of His hand. O Lady, if `thou
knewest the gift of God, thou wouldst have asked of Him, and He would
have given thee Living Water.'"

"They tell me of that Living Water, one and all; and I would fain drink
thereof; but I am in the desert, and the Well is afar off, and I know
not where to find it." Philippa spoke not angrily now, but very
sorrowfully.

"And `thou hast nothing to draw with, and the Well is deep.'"

"That is just what I feel," said Philippa, earnestly.

"Yet it is close beside you," answered the Grey Lady