“I think a rock by the sea or block of stone more impressionable!” she replied, merrily. “But that is as it should be. Men of science must be men without feeling,—they could not do their work if they ‘felt’ things.”
“I disagree,” said Dimitrius, quickly—“it is just because men of science ‘feel’ the brevity and misery of human life so keenly that they study to alleviate some of its pangs, and spare some of its waste. They seek to prove the Why and the Wherefore of the apparent uselessness of existence——”
“Nothing is useless, surely!” put in Diana—“Not even a grain of dust!”
“Where is the dust of Carthage?” he retorted—“Of Babylon? Of Nineveh? With what elements has it commingled to make more men as wise, as foolish, as sane, or as mad as the generations passed away? The splendour, the riches, the conquests, the glories of these cities were as great or greater than any that modern civilisation can boast of—and yet—what remains? Dust? And is the dust necessary and valuable? Who can tell! Who knows!”
“And with all the mystery and uncertainty, is it not better to trust in God?” said Madame Dimitrius, gently. “Perhaps the little child who says ‘Our Father’ is nearer to Divine Truth than all the science of the world.”
“Sweetly thought and sweetly said, my Mother!” answered Dimitrius. “But, believe me, I can say ‘Our Father’ with a more perfect and exalted faith now than I did when I was a child at your knee. And why? Because I know surely that there is ‘Our Father’ which is in Heaven!—and because He permits us to use reason, judgment and a sane comprehension of Nature, even so I seek to learn what I am confident He wishes us to know!”
“At all risks?” his mother hinted, in a low tone.
“At all risks!” he answered. “A political government risks millions of human lives to settle a temporary national dispute—I risk one life to make millions happier! And”—here he looked steadily at Diana with a certain grave kindness in his eyes—“she is brave enough to take the risk!”
Diana met his look with equal steadiness.
“I do not even think about it!” she said—“It does not seem worth while!”