“But it isn’t!” cried Carmen. “If it is real, then God made it. It seems real to you––but that is only because you give it reality in your consciousness. You believe it real, and so it becomes to you.”
“Well,” said the woman dryly, “on that basis I think the same may be said of good, too.”
“No,” answered Carmen eagerly, “good is––”
“There,” interrupted the Sister coldly, holding up an admonitory hand, “we are not going to discuss the foolish theological notions which that fallen priest put into your poor little head. Finish your breakfast.”
The child looked at the woman in mute protest. Josè a fallen priest! Would these people up here so regard him? It was a new thought, and one that she would not accept.
“Señora,” she began again, after a brief interval, “Padre Josè is a good man, even the human Padre Josè. And he is trying to solve his problem and know God. And he is trying to know himself, not as other people think they know him, but as God knows him, and as I have always tried to know him. You have no right to judge him––and, anyway, you are not judging him, but only your wrong idea of him. And that,” she said softly, “is nothing.”
The Sister did not answer. She was beginning to feel the spell of those great brown eyes, that soft, rich voice, and the sparkling expression of innocence, purity, and calm assurance that bubbled from those red lips. And she was losing herself in contemplation of the girl’s luxuriant beauty, whose rich profusion her strange, foreign attire could not disguise.
“Señora,” said Carmen suddenly, “the people on the boat laughed at my clothes. But I don’t think them half as funny as that great black bonnet you are wearing. Why do you wear it? I never saw one until I was brought here.”
It was said innocently, and with no thought of offense. But the woman instantly roused from her meditation and assumed 22 an attitude of severe dignity. “Finish your breakfast,” she commanded sharply. “And remember after this that children’s manners here are not those of your country.”
The girl fell quiet under the rebuke, and the meal ended in silence. As they were rising from the table a cheery voice came from the outer room, and presently a priest looked in.