drown me? If you were to tell me I might be drowned without his meaning it, I should be frightened enough.’ Believe me, my lady, the right way is simple to find, though only they that seek it _first_ can find it. But I have allowed myself,” concluded the schoolmaster, “to be carried adrift in my laudation of Malcolm. You did not come to hear praises of him, my lady.” “I owe him much,” said Clementina. “--But tell me then, Mr Graham, how is it that you know there is a God, and one--one--fit to be trusted as you trust him?” “In no way that I can bring to bear on the reason of another so as to produce conviction.” “Then what is to become of me?” “I can do for you what is far better. I can persuade you to look and see whether before your own door stands not a gate--lies not a path to walk in. Entering by that gate, walking in that path, you shall yourself arrive at the conviction, which no man can give you, that there is a living Love and Truth at the heart of your being, and pervading all that surrounds you. The man who seeks the truth in any other manner will never find it. Listen to me a moment, my lady. I loved that boy’s mother. Naturally she did not love me--how could she? I was very unhappy. I sought comfort from the unknown source of my life. He gave me to understand his Son, and so I understood himself, knew that I came of God, and was comforted.” “But how do you know that it was not all a delusion--the product of your own fervid imagination? Do not mistake me; I want to find it true.”