"Yes, yes, I can see that it would," said Mr. Howard. "But do not Scientists believe that it also prospers you in a worldly sense?" "Are you giving Kate everything that heart could wish now, and are you going to leave her all your money when you die?" asked Carolina. "That knocked his eye out," murmured Kate, in an aside to St. Quentin, but he observed that she looked singularly pleased when Carolina scored a point. Mr. Howard waved his hand in a slightly deprecatory way. "Ah, that is just it!" cried Carolina. "You are thinking, ’Oh, but, Carolina, I am Kate’s own father, and God is just God!’ Heavenly Father doesn’t mean a thing to most Christians. Christian Scientists can’t shirk their beliefs. If they do, they are just as they were before,--pretending or rather trying to believe what they feel that they ought to believe, but getting no satisfaction and no comfort from it. A Scientist who does not put his belief into practice can neither heal his own body nor others. So he is literally forced to be honest." "Well," said St. Quentin, "I can easily see where the supreme and slightly irritating happiness of Christian Scientists comes in. I could be supremely happy myself if I could believe in it." "So could I," declared Kate. "A-and I suppose it is sheer envy on my part, when I see their Cheshire-cat grins, to want to slap their faces for being happier than I am!" "But what makes them so happy?" asked Mrs. Winchester, plaintively. "Why should they be any happier than we are? We both have the same Bible, and I flatter myself that I am just as capable of understanding it as any self-styled priestess of a new religion." "But _do_ you understand it, Cousin Lois?" asked Carolina, gently. "I understand all that is good for me, dear child. I understand all that our Lord wants me to, or He would have made me Mrs. Eddy and made Mrs. Eddy, Mrs. Winchester. We are fulfilling God’s will." "I d-don’t believe that, either," whispered Kate to St. Quentin. "I--I have to admit that Carolina’s God is a more consistent Being than Mrs. Winchester’s." "But you have not answered my question, Carolina," said Cousin Lois. "What makes us so happy? Well, I wonder if I can tell you. In the first place, it is the relief of dropping all anxiety. We don’t have to worry about a single solitary thing. We put all responsibility off on God. You know it says ’Cast thy burdens on the Lord!’" "But how can you?" cried Kate. "I--I’m sure I’d like to, but I c-can’t get my own consent."