“Ay. Why not? If it were not for the soul’s health, the ancient Church wouldn’t have instituted the practice.”
She regarded him shrewdly for a second. “You’ve changed too.”
“Maybe,” said Phineas. “It’s an ill war that blows nobody good. And I’m not complaining of this one. But you were talking of your miscomprehension of Doggie.”
“I behaved very badly to him,” she said, picking again at the blanket. “I misjudged him altogether—because I was ignorant of everything—everything that matters in life. But I’ve learned better since then.”
“Ay,” remarked Phineas gravely.
“Mr. McPhail,” she said, after a pause, “it wasn’t those rotten ideas that prevented me from marrying him——”
“I know, my dear little lady,” said Phineas, grasping the plucking hand. “You just loved the other man as you never could have loved Doggie, and there’s an end to’t. Love just happens. It’s the holiest thing in the world.”
She turned her hand, so as to meet his in a mutual clasp, and withdrew it.
“You’re very kind—and sympathetic—and understanding——” Her voice broke. “I seem to have been going about misjudging everybody and everything. I’m beginning to see a little bit—a little bit farther—I can’t express myself——”
“Never mind, Mrs. Manningtree,” said Phineas soothingly, “if you cannot express yourself in words. Leave that to the politicians and the philosophers and the theologians, and other such windy expositors of the useless. But you can express yourself in deeds.”