"We don't talk much about it in our church, you know. But I used to go sometimes with old Auntie Bloom--she was so blind she couldn't see the sidewalk--to a little Methodist church of some sort, Free, or Reformed, or something, and they made a great deal of that. Auntie Bloom used to get rather excited over it herself sometimes when she 'testified.' I used to duck my head when she waved her arms about. 'A new creature!' she used to shout. 'There's nothing like being a new creature!'" And Adele quoted the old lady with good-natured mimicry. Winifred's face glowed. "No," she said, "there's nothing like it!--if that is what has happened to me." Adele looked at the happy face covetously. "You look as though it were good, Winnie," she said, and added meditatively: "I think it is all true about it. But you know, Winnie, when I was confirmed I really meant to be good. It was so solemn, and I thought I never should forget that dear old bishop's hand on my head. But I haven't turned out much of a saint, you know, dear." "I never thought you were wicked, Adele," said Winifred. "Well, I never robbed a bank," said Adele, "but there's no question about my being 'this worldly' enough." Winifred did not know just how to answer this. It seemed a charge that would cover both their previous lives. In a moment's silence a sweet-toned clock on the mantel softly struck a half hour. "Oh, I must be gone!" cried Miss Forrester, "and we haven't talked about half--" "Do stay to lunch," interrupted Winifred. "Impossible, dear. I am due at home--half an hour ago!" and she laughed at the discrepancy between her appointment and appearance. "Good-by, Winnie." And she was off. The two, very opposite in temperament, were very warm friends. Winifred saw beneath a light exterior a quantity of good, sound sense and a warm heart. She was a frequent guest at their house. Mrs. Gray liked her, though deploring her occasional indulgence in slang. Mr. Gray enjoyed her racy conversation, and Hubert professed a dislike of her volatile qualities. This last fact grieved Winifred, who liked her friend to be appreciated. "She has a rather frivolous exterior," she once explained to Hubert, "but she is really very sensible." "One would like to hear from the sensible interior occasionally," he replied, and Winifred withdrew from the defense. She was the more grieved by his indifference to her friend because, with her quick intuition, she had half guessed at a secret liking in Adele for her cynical brother. To-day at luncheon Winifred ventured to offer him the information: "Adele Forrester was in to see me this morning." "I heard her giggle," he replied laconically, and Winifred subsided into silence. CHAPTER V IS GOD DEMONSTRABLE?