All this was charming to his hearers, so charming that they did not absolutely require him to abuse Catholicism. Once only a member of his congregation gave him a hint on the subject, but the minister's answer was ready:
"I do not like to say the same things which everybody else is saying. If you wish to hear anti-Catholic sermons, go to Brothers Martin and Conway: they will satisfy you. I do not suppose that my silence on the subject will be interpreted as a leaning toward the Church of Rome."
"No, sir!" the gentleman answered dryly. "It is more likely to be looked on as a leaning toward the house of Yorke."
Mr. Griffeth colored, but did not deny the "soft impeachment." It would have been useless to deny it, for his partiality to the family was evident, though to which member of it his especial regard was directed, was not so easy to say. Well for him that it was not, or he would not, perhaps, have been forgiven.
So Edith stood, surrounded by a guard of devoted hearts, between the church and harm.
The physical and mental growth of this girl was fair to see. It was like the slow, sweet unfolding of a rose from the bud, with its baby lip pushed through the green to the rich and gracious beauty of the bursting flower. That morning look which belongs to the eyes of ingenuous youth still shed its calm, clear lustre over hers; her hair had darkened in tint, so as to be no longer a shadowed gold, but a gilded shadow; and she shot up like a young palm-tree, slender, but with the rounded, vigorous strength of an Atalanta. She had that perfect health which makes mere existence a delight, and she was perfectly happy, for all her wants were satisfied, and all her wishes were winged with hope. Friends she took as a matter of course. She did not think much about them, but loved them quietly, as people do who never wanted for friends. It is need or the fear of losing which develops intensity of affection.
What she did think of was: How does the wind blow and the sun shine? What are the names of those worlds in the sky, and how do they move? How does the seed sprout and grow, and what makes the flower unfold? Where do the birds go when they disappear in winter, and how do they know when to return? How does the snow-flake gather itself into a star-shape, and what shapes and colors the rainbow?
Her interest took in also another subject kindred to these: What distant people live on the earth? What do their eyes see? How do they live? How do they speak? Her mother's native land having been far away, made all far-away lands seem fair to her; and customs and speech different from those she had known did not repel, but attracted.
By some happy providence in her nature or her education, or in both, the girl's curiosity and love of the marvellous and beautiful took this direction, and therefore her delights did not wither like weeds when childhood passed: they grew for ever.
But what was best in Edith Yorke's growth was that she began to perceive the glories of the church of God, and, as her knowledge touched here and there at remote points, to guess at the grandeur, the symmetry, and the perfect finish of the whole structure. She had been ashamed of her religion, even while she clung to it, because all the professors of it whom she knew were poor and ignorant, and because she had seen it mocked by a higher class. She soon learned that all Catholics were not like those she saw, and that some of the noblest of earth, persons excelling in rank, wealth, learning, and virtue, had been devoted children of the church. It was a mean reason for being better satisfied with it, but it was better than no reason, and it led upward. What was it that these people found to love and reverence? She looked to see, and, seeing, she also loved and reverenced, not because the great did, not because any one else did, but because what she saw was worthy of such homage. Once attaining this elevation, it was easy for a nature like hers to be entirely and enthusiastically on the side of God, and to find a beauty and delight in the fact that had before repelled her, to rejoice that the poor and the ignorant, as well as the rich and the learned, had a place in the arms of this bountiful Mother, and that, while human science built a laborious track on which to crawl toward the heart of God, simple human love flew straight there, as the bird flies to its nest.