must come out all right by and by. She was restive under the
present pain; at times wild with the desire to find and remove the
something, whatever it was, which had come between Evan and her; for
this girl's was no calm, easy-going nature, but one with depths of
passionate reserve and terrible possibilities of suffering or enjoying.
She had been calm all her life until now, because these powers and
susceptibilities had been in an absolute poise; an equilibrium that
nothing had shaken. Now the depths were stirred, and at times she was
in a storm of impatient pain; but there came revulsions of hope and
quiet lulls, when the sun almost shone again under the clearance made
by faith and hope. One of these revulsions came now, after she had set
the minister to work upon her books. Perhaps it was simple reaction;
perhaps it was something caught from the quiet sunshiny manner and
spirit of her visitor; but at her work in the kitchen Diana grew quite
calm-hearted. She fancied she had discerned somewhat of more than usual
earnestness in the minister's observation of her, and she began to
question whether her looks or behaviour had furnished occasion. Perhaps
she had not been ready enough to talk; poor Diana knew it was often the
case now; she resolved she would try to mend that when he came down.
And there was, besides, a certain lurking impatience of the bearing of
his words; they had probed a little too deep, and after the manner of
some morbid conditions, the probing irritated her. So by and by, when
Mr. Masters came down with a brown volume in his hand, and offered to
borrow it if she would let him lend her another of different colour,
Diana met him and answered quite like herself, and went on--

"Mr. Masters, how can people be always well in body, mind, and spirit,
as you say? I am sure people's bodies get sick without any fault of
their own; and there are accidents; and just so there are troubles.
People can't help troubles, and they can't be 'well' in mind, I
suppose, when they are in pain?"

"Are you sure of that?" the minister answered quietly, while he turned
to the window to look at something in the volume he had brought down
with him.

"Why, yes; and so are you, Mr. Masters; are you not?"

"You need to know a great deal to be sure of anything," he answered in
the same tone.

"But you are certain of this, Mr. Masters?"

"I shouldn't like to expose myself to your criticism. Let us look at
facts. It seems to me