"You forget, Mrs. Hadly. To-night is wonderfully serene, to-morrow may bring a storm that will transform nature into wildness."
"That is very true," returned Venna. "After all, there is a great analogy between the spiritual and the material. I can see how the Christian Scientists can stretch the point and believe one is but the expression of the other. I wish I could accept all their doctrines. You don't know, Mr. Soffy, how I long for real concrete thinking on religious questions. If I only possessed a strong, sure belief!"
"Oh, I think you believe enough—more than I do even. I think there is greater pleasure in freedom of thought. Let your mind wander at will—you'll get more out of life. Strive to be broad, not narrow."
"Yes, I know that is the idea in the religious thought of to-day. But it doesn't somehow satisfy me. Truth is like a river, having a source and a destination. If the river broadens too much, it overflows the banks and ruins the very limitations that give it beauty."
"You ought to be a Catholic," returned Mr. Soffy, smiling.
"No, then the river would be so choked with rocks and weeds, that its course would be turbulent and without freedom."
"What would you be then?" asked Mr. Soffy, laughing. "Please don't start another sect in the Christian world. There are only hundreds now!"
"Never fear," she returned, "but I shall always long for truth, even if I never find it. What is it so important you wish to say to me?"
"It is in the way of advice and I know you will not be offended. I'm too interested in you to have you talked about. I wish to warn you."
Venna looked her surprise.