prised to hear you use such----express
yourself so, Mr. Polwarth," said the minister.

The little man laughed a quiet, huskily melodious, gently merry laugh.

"I am not original in the idea, and scarcely so in my way of expressing
it. I am sorry you don't like it, Mr. Drake," he said. "I found it in
the second epistle to the Corinthians last night, and my heart has been
full of it ever since. It is surely no very bad sign if the truth should
make us merry at a time! It ought to do so, I think, seeing merriment is
one of the lower forms of bliss."

"I am at a loss to understand you, Mr. Polwarth," said the minister.

"I beg your pardon, Mr. Drake. I will come to the point. In the passage
I refer to St. Paul says: 'There was given to me a thorn in the flesh,
the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above
measure:'--am I not right in speaking of such a demon as a friendly one?
He was a gift from God."

"I had not observed--that is, I had not taken particular notice of the
unusual combination of phrases in the passage," answered Mr. Drake. "It
is a very remarkable one, certainly. I remember no other in which a
messenger of Satan is spoken of as being _given_ by God."

"Clearly, sir, St. Paul accepted him as something to be grateful for, so
soon as his mission was explained to him; and after that, who is to say
what may not be a gift of God! It won't do to grumble at any thing--will
it, sir?--when it may so unexpectedly turn out to be _given_ to us by
God. I begin to suspect that never, until we see a thing plainly a gift
of God, can we be sure that we see it right. I am quite certain the most
unpleasant things may be such gifts. I should be glad enough to part
with this asthma of mine, if it pleased God it should depart from me;
but would I yield a fraction of what it has brought me, for the best
lungs in England? I trow not!"

"You are a happy man, Mr. Polwarth--if you can say that and abide by
it."

"I _am_ a happy man, sir. I don't know what would come of me sometimes,
for very gladness, if I hadn't my good friend, the asthma-devil, to keep
me down a bit. Good night, sir," he added, for Mr. Drake was already
moving away.

He felt superior to this man, set him down as forward, did not quite
approve of him. Always ready to judge involuntarily from externals, he
would have been shocked to discover how much the deformity of the man,
which caused him discomfort, prejudiced him also against him.