When she saw his face a moment later across the room as he turned, it was the face she had first seen in the dark street. It had stopped her singing then; it drew an immediate response from her now. She crossed over to him and took one of his hands in both of hers. Her cheeks were flushed, her voice trembled. "I am not your judge," she said, "and in all this there is only one thing that is too sad, too awful, for me to accept. I am sorry you should have been misled into believing that the Christian religion is nothing more than one of the religions of the world, and Christ merely one of its religious teachers. I wish with all my strength you believed as you once believed, that the Bible is a direct Revelation from God, making known to us, beyond all doubt, the Resurrection of the dead, the Immortality of the Soul, in a better world than this, and the presence with us of a Father who knows our wants, pities our weakness, and answers our prayers. But I believe you will one day regain your faith: you will come back to the Church." He shook his head. "Don't be deceived," he said. "Men, great men, have said that before and they have come back. I am a woman, and these questions never trouble us; but is it not a common occurrence that men who think deeply on such mysteries pass through their period of doubt?" "But suppose I never pass through mine! You have not answered my question," he said determinedly. "Does this make no difference in your feeling for me? Would it make none?" "Will you bring me that book on the religions of the world?" "Ah," he said, "you have not answered." "I have told you that I am not your judge." "Ah, but that tells nothing: a woman is never a judge. She is either with one or against him." "Which do I look like?"--she laughed evasively--"Mercy or Vengeance? And have you forgotten that it is late--too late to ask questions?" He stood, comprehending her doubtfully, with immeasurable joy, and then went out to get his overcoat. "Bring your things in here," she said, "it is cold in the hall. And wrap up warmly! That is more important than all the Genevan and the homiletical!" He bade her good night, subdued with happiness that seemed to blot out the troublous past, to be the beginning of new life. New happiness brought new awkwardness:-- "This was not my regular night," he said threateningly. "I came to-night instead of to-morrow night." Gabriella could answer a remark like that quickly enough. "Certainly: it is hard to wait even for a slight pleasure, and it is best to be through with suffering." He looked as if cold water and hot water had been thrown on him at the same time: he received shocks of different kinds and was doubtful as to the result. He shook his head questioningly. "I may do very well with science, but I am not so sure about women." "Aren't women science?" "They are a branch of theology," he said; "they are what a man thinks about when he begins to probe his Destiny!" XVII