"Let me not dwell so much within
My bounded heart with anxious heed,
Where all my searches meet with doubt,
And nothing satisfies my need;
It shuts me from the sound and sight
Of that pure world of life and light
Which has no breadth, or length, or height."
—A. L. Waring.

Kate had long ago become accustomed to these uncertain movements of Grace, and was therefore not alarmed at her prolonged absence. She sat in a cozy chair, reading the last letter from Mrs. Hayden, when Grace entered.

"What makes you look so sober, Gracious?" she asked, tenderly, after the hat and sketch book were laid aside and they had settled themselves for their usual chat.

"Oh, Kate, I had a lovely time to-day, with all the beautiful sights out in the country; I wish you could see how much more there is in nature since we have studied Christian Healing," was the evasive reply.

"I think we see more in everything," said Kate, whose curiosity was rather piqued by the evasiveness, though she made no sign, "because everything stands for something. It is like the x in algebra, and interesting as the unknown quantity."

Grace smiled a little. She was thinking of a different kind of "unknown quantity."

"Don't you want to hear Mrs. Hayden's letter?" asked Kate, wondering more and more over the distrait manner and dreamy absorption of her friend.

"The letter, why, of course; where is it?"

"Here; shall I read it?"

"Certainly."

Grace grew more interested as the reading went on. "That is decidedly the most reasonable explanation of the atonement I have ever heard," she exclaimed at the close.

"Yes, it is reasonable and beautiful I must admit," said Kate, "but when I first read the letter my old fear came back for a moment that possibly it was all wrong, but I remembered my right to an interpretation. That one thought has been more helpful to me than any other, for it has brought such a sense of liberty. Then I looked up the quotation about the 'word of reconciliation,' and I must say it is so perfectly plain I can not see why it has been so overlooked and neglected before."

"Where is it? I did not catch that," said Grace, following Kate's finger as she pointed to the passage in the Bible.

"There is something so sacred in these meanings," resumed Kate, "and if I may only get the truth, I care not what any one says about it. I see now wherein lies the whole misconception or misinterpretation rather. It is in the idea of God. If we conceive of Him as limited to human ways and capacities, as the ancient Hebrews did, we naturally ascribe such works to Him."

"In other words," added Grace, "we judge God entirely by ourselves. If we are broad and loving in our nature and character it is easy for us to regard God as love. If we are vindictive and revengeful, we can readily see Him as angry and unrelenting."

"Yes, we are so apt to judge the whole world and God, too, by our moods," replied Kate, thoughtfully.

"As Emerson says, 'we see in others what we are ourselves,'" quoted Grace, removing her jacket which until now she had retained in order to get warm after her evening journey.

"Oh! what do you think of what Mrs. Hayden says about marriage?" asked Kate, putting her pencil in her mouth as she held both hands out to assist Grace.

"She doesn't say enough to give an opinion," replied Grace, "but there must be something in her mind or she would not write about it now."

"Her ideas must be very exalted, and I hope to know what they are, for it is a very important question," said Kate, with a casual glance toward her companion, as she bit the end of the pencil.

"Mrs. Hayden decidedly denies the imputation laid to Christian Healing, that it is opposed to marriage, or that it tends to separate families," said Grace, with more interest than Kate would have thought possible a week ago.

"I did not know any such imputation had been laid to it," rejoined Kate, opening her eyes in astonishment.

"Oh, yes, I have heard it several times, but people will talk whether they know anything or not. I am glad Mrs. Hayden mentions it for that is enough to show there is absolutely no foundation for such statements." Grace moved her chair and put her elbow on the table so she might shade her eyes with her hand.

"Why, I don't see how people can say such things; surely the tendency is to draw families into closer bonds of sympathy and affection," exclaimed Kate, in questioning innocence.

"It ought to be," replied Grace, thoughtfully, "and undoubtedly is," she added.

"What do you think of this question, Grace?" Kate ventured to ask. At any other time she would not have dared approach the subject, but Grace seemed more pliable to-night for some reason.

"What question?" asked Grace, rousing from her reverie. "Oh, marriage. Well, sometimes I have thought the query going the rounds of the press, 'Is marriage a failure?' a very pertinent one, but of course that doesn't touch the principle itself. That is right and can never be otherwise."

"Most people talk and write as seriously as though it does touch the principle."

"That is because they judge the principle by the persons representing it, whereas they should stop and consider that humanity is prone to weakness and often fails to demonstrate its high ideals."

"And it is because of failure they think there is something wrong. Take an individual case, for instance, and there are thousands. If a girl marries unhappily, she thinks there must be something wrong in the whole system, for she judges everybody's misery by her own," said Kate, secretly wishing Grace would be more confidential, and not so coldly intellectual.

"Then the way to a happy judgment of this question would be a happy marriage, you think?" laughed Grace, with a faint blush, looking up inquiringly.

"Don't trifle Grace. You know I said it all earnestly, and really it is no matter to trifle over, any way."

"Well, that is true, Kate," replied Grace more soberly. "I don't believe anybody takes the question seriously enough. It is certainly the most important of all things to consider."

"Do you think it right to enter marriage for any other reason than pure and devoted affection?" persisted Kate.

"No, I do not. Why do you ask?" demanded Grace rather sharply.

"Because that is the solution of the whole problem. If they would begin to talk about love instead of marriage being a failure, they would get some light on it," a little impatiently.

Grace looked up in surprise.

"I know," continued Kate, "it is because people are mistaken or misled in their reasons for marriage, that it even has a semblance of failure."

"That is one reason, certainly, and another is that they do not understand each other's motives, or have not the patience to bear with each other's faults. We can easily see how misunderstandings can be put away when there is true love, when we determine to see only the good, and learn to 'resist not evil.' That is one of the strong points in Jesus the Christ's teachings," said Grace with unwonted earnestness.

"I am so sorry people can't see it in the right light," added Kate, regretfully.

"You can have much charity for them, for it is just what you would have said or thought, if you had not studied the matter yourself. You remember how Mr. Narrow influenced you and biased your judgment?"

"Yes, and I see as never before that the 'Truth makes us free.'

'He is a freeman whom the truth makes free.
And all are slaves besides,'"

said Grace, as she reached for the sketch book to look over her work of the afternoon.

"It is no use, she never will say anything, even when she might," thought Kate as she reviewed the events of the past few days. She half reproached herself for allowing anything to take her mind from the one special theme in which at last she had become thoroughly interested. She was eager to learn, to search in all directions for the meaning of things. Slowly the little grain of faith was growing into the mighty tree.

Enchanting Truth so round, so perfect, so beautiful,—no wonder we must reach out in every direction for the knowledge of thy fair signs that we may more correctly and more fully realize the perfect revealment of our own divinity.