“I think, noble sir,” replied the youth, “that the Maiden in her pastoral life has had ample opportunity to observe the wind and weather, and is therefore able to predict changes like these.”
“Oho! Then she is an impostor!”
“Why so, noble sir?”
“Do you not understand? Does she not make people believe that the winds change in answer to her prayers?”
“Oh no, certainly not. She does not pray on account of the wind. She prays because prayer is a necessity to her, because of the impelling forces of her nature, and because she feels happy in communing with Heaven. Her special prayer is for strength and help from on high for her great work, which is beginning this very hour.”
“H’m! But she deceives the multitude by it, just the same.”
“She does only what she must do. Does the sun lave itself every evening in the sea just because the people believe it does?”
“I am not criticising you, my young friend, but one minute you deny the supernatural in the manifestations of the Maiden, and in the next you extol her to the very skies.”
“What are wonders anyway, noble sir? What the blind multitude regards as a wonder easily resolves itself into harmony with nature to the reflective person, and what the multitude passes by without observing at all is a wonder to the intelligent thinker.”
“Explain yourself more clearly.”