“No; it charms her. She has fallen in love with the child-wife. Oh, what if my mother should come to think and believe as you—then I would!”
“Thou mayst alone; but what part of the story desirest thou?”
“All! Nothing less than all! What became of the Holy Family in Egypt?”
“Now sit down on this shattered column and I’ll recount to thee the traditions in order, leaving thee to judge which is true.”
“Tell me what you believe and I’ll believe it. That’s enough!”
“I scarcely am able to do that, not knowing whether to believe or disbelieve some of the things reported. But I remember them, and perceiving that though they are only traditions, they are very beautiful and very natural, I remember them with delight, that is very near to giving them full credence.”
“Then, so will I do.”
“It may be the wise way, for I’ve believed that the good angels who, under God, watched over the little outcast family drifting about in strange places, have also watched over the drifting stories of their wanderings, letting the facts profitable for us to know, come safely to us, though they have come without the seal of authenticated history.”
“Now, I believe all this, too.”