"Many; if it be only to improve the talents which God has committed to your keeping. For this end your life has been spared, and the heavier will be your amount of guilt, if you neglect so great salvation. God has permitted you to assert your innocence—to triumph over your enemy; has saved you from the premeditated malice of that enemy; and do you feel no gratitude to Him for such signal mercies?"
"Indeed I have not thought of my preservation in this way before, nor have I been so grateful as I ought to have been. I have suffered human passions and affections to stand between me and heaven."
"We are all too prone to do that, Geoffrey. The mind, in its natural and unconverted state, cannot comprehend the tender mercies of the Creator. Human nature is so selfish, when left to its own guidance, that it needs the purifying influences of religion to lift the soul from grovelling in the dust. I am no bigot—no disputer about creeds and forms of worship, but I know that without God no one can be happy or contented in any station of life, under any circumstances."
Seeing that I did not answer, she released the hand that she had retained within her own, and said very gently:
"Forgive me, Geoffrey, if I have wounded your feelings."
"Go on—go on. I could hear you talk for ever, dear Miss Lee."
"You have grown very formal; Geoffrey—why Miss Lee? During your illness, I have been simple Kate."
"But I am getting well now," and I tried to smile; my heart was too sore. "Oh, Catherine," I cried, "forgive my waywardness, for I am very unhappy."
"You have been placed in very trying circumstances, but I feel an inward conviction that you will overcome them all."
"My grief, has nothing to do with that," said I, looking at her very earnestly.