"Oh, no! Oh, no! He who inspired you in the beginning will sustain you to the end. Think that. Believe that."
"Will He?" Her voice was neutral, as if it would not betray too much, but there was a listlessness that spoke louder in the bend of her head, the droop of her shoulder.
"For you perhaps," Arnold said, thoughtfully, "there is only one assurance of it—the satisfaction your vocation brings you now. That will broaden and increase," he went on, almost with buoyancy, "growing more and more your supreme good as the years go on."
"How much you give me credit for!"
"Not nearly enough—not nearly. Who is there like you?" he demanded, simply.
His words seemed a baptism. She lifted up her face after them, and the trace of them was on her eyes and lips. "I have passed two examinations, at all events," she informed him, with sudden gaiety, "and Sister Ann Frances says that in two or three months I shall probably get through the others. Sister Ann Frances thinks me more intelligent than might be expected. And if I do pass those examinations I shall be what they call a quick-time probationer. I shall have got it over in six months. Do you think," she asked, as if to please herself, "that six months will be long enough?"
"It depends. There is so much to consider."
"Yes—it depends. Sometimes I think it will be, but oftener I think it will take longer."
"I should be inclined to leave it entirely with the Sisters."
"I am so undisciplined," murmured Hilda. "I fear I shall cling to my own opinion. Now we must overtake the others and you must walk the rest of the way with Sister Ann—no, Sister Margaret, she is senior."