"Perfect as the good God is perfect!" I exclaimed.
"That is our standard," she responded. "We are not to rest short of that."
"But we cannot! You yourself said it, holy Mother, when we were talking of Sister Eudoxia."
"I did, my child. Let us take two more passages from Holy Writ, and see if they cast any light upon it. 'The end of the law is Christ, unto righteousness, to every believer.' 'And ye are in Him complete.'"
"I do not understand them, holy Mother."
"I have heard thee speak, Helena, of thy favourite legend of the two good knights of Greece. What was it that Sir Pythias agreed to do for Sir Damon?"
"To suffer death in his stead, if he did not return home at the appointed time."
"Suppose that Sir Pythias had suffered death before Sir Damon's return, and that when Sir Damon came back, the Lord King had put him to death also: what wouldst thou call that?"
"Oh, that would never have been just!" said I.
"But why? Sir Damon had been sentenced to die."