"Rest and solitude are best for both."
"Nay, for bodily sickness thou hast need of a physician of the body, and for soul sickness of a physician of the soul."
"Father," said Elinor, sinking on her knees before him, "I am past all help of medicine for body or soul—He is dead!"
The old priest raised his eyes to heaven, murmuring to himself, "Digitus Dei est hic.—Yes," he added slowly, "surely it is the finger of God himself, and it is the Lord who has spoken."
Aloud he said: "I know how troubles such as thine shake the soul till there is no power left to seek aid. Then the Lord sends the help the sufferer is too weak to reach out a hand for. If thou shouldst probe this wound of thine, thou wouldst find that its deepest hurt lay not in what hath befallen without, but from that which hath gone wrong within."
"'Tis God's truth thou speakest."
"There lies no help in man."
"None! None!"
"Then look above! Oh, my daughter, hast thou not before found comfort at the confessional, at the foot of the altar? Listen: I am a priest of God and charged with power to absolve sin and declare His pardon to weary, struggling souls like thine."