"Oh, well—she snaps sometimes, but either she is not so sharp as she used to be, or I don't mind it so much. I really get on quite nicely. But, please, don't talk for a little, Belle. I want to read my chapter and say my prayers." "I will be as mute as a fish at Quaker meeting," said Belle. "But don't keep all the good to yourself. Read your chapter aloud." Calista did so, and Belle listened with evident interest; and when Calista knelt down, she sat quite still till she had finished. "I'll tell you what, Calista, you are a comfortable sort of Christian to be with," said Belle, when they were both in bed and the light was out. "You don't put on a long face, and look all the time as if you were afraid something dreadful was going to be done or said, like—" "Hush, now! I won't have you censorious," said Calista. "Well, I won't say it, then; but you know who I mean, all the same." "You two would be the best friends in the world if you would only come to understand one another," said Calista. "How are you to come to an understanding with a person who always takes it for granted that you mean to say and do the very worst thing possible?" demanded Belle, with some heat. "Oh, come; you judge too hardly. M—, that person is naturally inclined to low spirits and brooding. It is very different with me." "Yes, I know that. But if she is a Christian, why doesn't she try to overcome such a disposition as that?" "She does try. And anyhow, Belle, it is better to be a faulty Christian, who knows her faults and tries to conquer them, than not to be a Christian at all." "Well, I don't know; I don't think I would try unless I could be a perfect Christian—consistent in all things." "If your rule had been followed out, we should never have had any Christian Church at all," said Calista. "There was not one of the Apostles that we know anything about but had some fault." "Oh, Calista!—St. John!" "Well, he was for calling down fire on his enemies; and St. Peter certainly had his faults, and so had St. Paul. I don't think that excuse will stand for much at the last day. Come, Belle, do think it over again, and without delay. Your time may be very short, you know. Think of poor little Lawrence!" "Well, I will; I promise you I will. Now we must go to sleep, or we shall never be ready to get up." Calista was, as Belle said, "a comfortable Christian," both to herself and others. As some one said about Christiana, in the "Pilgrim's Progress,"—"she never was in Doubting Castle at all."