"Yes, we have to live it in order to prove it."
"And the first thing to do is, as Jesus commanded, to have one G.o.d and to love our neighbor as ourselves. That word "love" has taken on a new meaning for me to-day, Kathie. It means an impersonal love, which, like the "rain"--in Jesus" simile--"falls alike upon the just and the unjust.""
Katherine lifted questioning eyes to the speaker, for her voice was now accusingly serious.
"And one cannot demonstrate the Love that is G.o.d," she went on, "unless he loves in that way--without regard to personality."
"That is true--how quickly you grasp these things!" said her companion.
"Ah! but I have grasped something, with this, that is not at all agreeable," said the woman, with a peculiar glitter in her eyes which the girl had never seen there before.
"How so? Pardon me, though, I should not have asked that,"
corrected Katherine, flushing.
"But I am going to tell you all the same," said Miss Reynolds.
"Ten years ago my father died. He was supposed to be a rich man, but when his affairs were settled my mother and I were left with almost nothing. His partner represented that the firm was heavily involved, but said if we would sign our interest in the business over to him, for a certain amount, he would perhaps manage to pull through and save us the expense of having things adjusted by law.
We were not at all satisfied with the state of affairs, but we were helpless, as we had no money to spend in litigation, and we were forced to accept his terms. He made over to us a small house on the outskirts of our town, together with a mere pittance, which barely served to support us until I secured a position as teacher.
I have taken care of my mother and myself ever since. But that man and his family have never abated their style of living one whit, and are to-day rolling in luxury. There can be no doubt that we were robbed of a fortune, and yet there was no possible way of proving it. I have never been able to meet or even think of that man since, without smarting as under a lash, and with a feeling of resentment and a sense of personal injury that never fail to give me a sick headache, if I allow my thoughts to dwell upon him. That isn"t love, Kathie."
"No," gravely; but the voice was also very tender.
"Everything is either "for" or "against" in Christian Science?"
"Yes."
"There is, I see, no middle ground; so, if one cannot think compa.s.sionately, even tenderly, of one"s enemy one is guilty of-- hate?" said Miss Reynolds, with quivering lips and averted eyes.
Again Katherine was silent; but her glance was very loving as it rested on her teacher"s troubled face.
"Tell me how to get rid of these feelings, Kathie," she resumed, after a moment, "for they make me wretched at times. I find myself mentally going over the same ground, again and again, holding imaginary conversations with the man who has wronged me, arguing the case and bringing up evidence, as if it were being tried before a judge and jury. How would you conquer it in Science?"
"Every wrong thought we hold has to be reversed--"
"Oh! do you mean I must declare that that man is not dishonest-- that he has not wronged me? That I have not been injured and do not resent that injury?" interposed the woman, looking up with flashing eyes, a scarlet spot burning on either cheek. "Child, you don"t know what I have suffered. My father took that man into his business and gave him a start when he had not a dollar in the world, and it was such base ingrat.i.tude to rob his family and let them sink into poverty. Ah! the bitter tears I have shed over it!"
Then she suddenly relaxed and sank back in her chair with a deprecatory smile.
"Kathie, you did not suspect your teacher of having such a seething volcano concealed in her breast, did you?" she observed, sadly.
"What you have told me makes me think of a verse of "The Mother"s Evening Prayer," in "Miscellaneous Writings,"" [Footnote: By Mary Baker G. Eddy, page 389.] said Katherine, gently; and she repeated in a low tone:
"Oh! make me glad for every scalding tear, For hope deferred, ingrat.i.tude, disdain!
Wait, and love more for every hate, and fear No ill, since G.o.d is good, and loss is gain."
"Say that again please, clear," pleaded Miss Reynolds, with a sudden catch in her breath; and Katherine went through it the second time.
"Ah! that shows how she has risen to the heights she has attained," said Miss Reynolds, in a reverent tone. "We are to be "glad" for whatever drives us closer to G.o.d, to "wait" and "love"
through all."
"And to know that every man is our brother--the perfect image and likeness of G.o.d, and we must not bind heavy burdens of sin and dishonesty upon him in resentful thought."
"Yes, I see; we have to "blot it all out,"" said Miss Reynolds, wearily. "I caught something of that in my study to-day and that was what sent me down into the valley, for it seemed such an impossible thing to do. You could see what a strong grip it had on me in rehearsing it to you."
"All wrong thought brings the sting--the smart of the lash; but love--right thinking--brings the "peace of G.o.d,"" said Katherine.
"Ah! it is a case of "as ye sow ye shall also reap,"" said Miss Reynolds, drawing a long breath. "But, Kathie, do you think it will be possible for me to so reverse my thought about that man that I can grow to love him?"
"You do love him now; only error is trying to make you think that a dear brother is not worthy of your love," said the girl, softly.
"Oh, Katherine! we have to come under the rod, don"t we?" and her voice almost broke.
"There is also the staff," was the low-voiced reply. "Truth, the rod, uncovers and smites the error; then Love, the staff, supports our faltering steps--"meets every human need."" [Footnote: "Science and Health," page 494.]
Silence fell between them, during which both were deeply absorbed in thought, while the fire gradually faded from the elder woman"s eyes and the scarlet from her cheeks.
At length she turned with an earnest look to her companion.
"Kathie," she said, in a clear, resolute tone, "I have put my "hand to the plow," and I am not going to "look back.""
"Then everything will come right," said the girl, with a brilliant smile, as she bent forward and kissed her on the lips.
CHAPTER XIV.
A SOPh.o.m.oRE RACKET.
Monday evening, after study hours were over, again found Katherine in her teacher"s room, for now that the woman had begun to get an understanding of the spiritual interpretation of the Scriptures her desire to know more was insatiable; while our young Scientist was only too glad to lend her what help she could along the way.
They went over the Sunday lesson together, and afterward fell to talking upon certain points that had especially attracted their attention, becoming so absorbed that they took no account of time until the clock struck the half hour after eleven.
"Why!" Katherine exclaimed, and starting to her feet, "if you were not a teacher I should be guilty of flagrant disobedience in being out of my room at this hour."
"Dear child, I have been very thoughtless to keep you so long,"
said Miss Reynolds, regretfully, "but I certainly had no idea of time. And what is time, anyway? I begin to realize that it is only a mortal invention, and that we are living in eternity now. But I must not begin on this infinite subject again to-night; go! go!"
She laughingly waved the girl away, and she slipped noiselessly out into the hall to seek her own room.
Miss Reynolds was located on the second floor of the east wing, and Katherine roomed in the west wing, consequently she was obliged to go down a flight of stairs, cross the main or central hall, and up another flight to gain her own quarters.
The lights were all out, but the moon was full, coming in through the windows with a soft radiance, and thus she had no difficulty in finding her way.
She had crossed the main hall, and just entered a short pa.s.sage leading to the west wing, when she came suddenly upon some one, who appeared to be trying to shrink out of sight into a corner.
"Why, who is it?" she cried, in a repressed but startled tone.
"Sh! sh! keep mum!" was the warning response as the figure drew near her.