She knew what he meant. "What line do you object to?" she asked, and the line seemed to be already dinning in her ears.
He quoted the line, pronouncing the words with a strange emphasis—
"'Love that can shape or can shatter a life, till the life shall have fled.'"
"Yes?" said May.
"It is a pretty sentiment," he said. "I suppose we ought to accept it as such."
"Oh!" said May, and her voice lingered doubtfully over the word.
"Have we any right to expect so much, or fear so much," said the Warden, "from the circumstances of life?"
May turned her head away and said nothing.
"Why demand that life shall be made so easy?" Here he paused again. "Some of us," he went on, "want to be converted, in the Evangelical sense; in other words, some of us want to be given a sudden inspiring illumination, an irresistible motive for living the good life, a motive that will make virtue easy."
May looked down into the fire and waited for him to go on.