"No--I shall ask for all the rest of the portfolio, Elfie," he said as he put it in a place of security.
"Pray do not!" said Fleda most unaffectedly.
"Why?"
"Because I remember Mrs. Carleton says you always have what you ask for."
"Give me permission to put on your bonnet, then," said he laughingly, taking it from her hand.
The air was very sweet, the footing pleasant. The first few steps of the walk were made by Fleda in silence, with eager breath and a foot that grew lighter as it trod.
"I don't think it was a right mood of mind I had when I wrote that," she said. "It was morbid. But I couldn't help it.--Yet if one could keep possession of those words you quoted just now, I suppose one never would have morbid feelings, Mr. Carleton?"
"Perhaps not; but human nature has a weak hold of anything, and many things may make it weaker."
"Mine is weak," said Fleda. "But it is possible to keep firm hold of those words, Mr. Carleton?"
"Yes--by strength that is not human nature's--And after all the firm hold is rather that in which we are held, or ours would soon fail. The very hand that makes the promise its own must be nerved to grasp it. And so it is best, for it keeps us looking off always to the Author and Finisher of our faith."