Her voice was entirely natural; there was not a tremor or a falter in it. Mr. Francis smiled genially, rubbing his hands softly together.
“Ah!” he said. “Yes, I see.... Well, that is a very large question. Would not to-morrow, perhaps—-?”
“I only want just the shortest answer,” she said. “It is really important for me to know at once. You see, this new law comes into force—-”
He nodded.
“Well—very briefly, I should say this: Catholics say that God can be perceived by reason; that from the arrangements of the world they can deduce that there must have been an Arranger—a Mind, you understand. Then they say that they deduce other things about God—that He is Love, for example, because of happiness—-”
“And the pain?” she interrupted.
He smiled again.
“Yes. That is the point—that is the weak point.”
“But what do they say about that?”
“Well, briefly, they say that pain is the result of sin—-”