"Yes, of a certain kind."
"Some of those people in the Bible were also villains. Jacob was a sneak, David was a murderer, and Solomon ought to have been shut up in prison."
Her tone was severe, and Justin forbore to answer her.
"Yet God loved them," she went on, reverently. "Justin, how wicked can we be, and yet escape consequences?"
The wind was bitterly cold, and he paused to wrap her cloak more closely about her before answering. "We must not consider that question. One can love and serve God, fall into sin, and repent. Our finite minds cannot take in the depths of his compassion."
"Did your stepfather repent?"
"It is not for me to judge him, but if he did, we received no word of it. His attitude was that of an injured man, and when he died, after a few years of exile, he left us his body as a precious legacy. We had him brought home and buried, and I hope his soul is with God."
"Curious," said the girl, under her breath. "Justin, are we all links in a chain? I must walk to-night to help pay the debts of a man I never saw."
"You shall not walk if you had rather drive."
"Hush, my husband, and put up your hand to stop that car."