CHAPTER VI THE HAUNTED FARM
"'Where every prospect pleases,'" said Diana, "'and only man is vile.'"
They had crossed the field and come up to the height of the road which commanded an extensive view of the bay and other islands. They stood still for a minute.
"Are you at all interested in metaphysics, Miss Diana?" asked her companion.
"I think I am. I am interested in everything."
"I don't like the latter half of that quotation," said Mrs. Lowell. "It stands to reason that God couldn't create anything vile."
"No, of course," agreed the girl. "It is man who makes himself vile."
"God's man couldn't do that either," returned Mrs. Lowell. "There is no potentiality in him for vileness."
"Then," said Diana, "how do you explain Mr. Gayne and his like?"
"He is a man whose real selfhood is buried under a mass of selfishness and cruelty, the beliefs of error and mortality. God doesn't even know what the poor creature believes, and all his mistakes and blundering will have to be blotted out finally by suffering, unless he should learn to turn to the Love that is always available; for God can't know anything unlike Himself."