'Him? Whom?'
'I mean Jesus, papa.'
'How do you know Him? Do you mean that lately you have begun to think about Him?'
'No, papa, I had been thinking a great while.'
'And now?'—
'Now I have come to know Him.'
That Esther knew what she meant was evident; it was equally plain that the colonel did not. He was puzzled, and did not like to show it too fully. The one face was shining with clearness and gladness; the other was dissatisfied and perplexed.
'My dear, I do not understand you,' the colonel said, after a pause. 'Have you been reading mystical books? I did not know there were any in the house.'
'I have been reading only the Bible, papa; and that is not mystical.'
'Your language sounds so.'