Jane came back. "She"s still sleeping," she said; "don"t you worry, dear Auntie."
"I can"t help it," said Susan. "I"ve dodged about for so long and played things were so that weren"t so, that I guess I"m pretty much out of tune, and it"ll be a little while before I can stop worrying."
"No, you aren"t out of tune," said Jane, smiling at her affectionately, "or if you are, just say you"re in tune and you will be, right off."
"Do you believe that?" Emily asked.
"Why, of course. I know it absolutely for myself, and I know that it"s equally true for others if they have the strength to declare it."
"But how?"
"How! Why, because every declaration of good is spiritual, and proves that you are one with your soul and master over your body, just as false declarations make you one with your body and take away all power from your soul. That"s how mental cures work. When anybody says "I am well,"
she declares souls can"t be ill, and she makes Truth stronger by adding her strength to its strength. But when a man says "I am ill," he declares a lie, for souls can"t be ill, and so he"s claiming not to be spiritual, but just to be his own body. It"s as if a weaver stopped weaving and said: "I"ve broken several threads, and _I"m_ going to be imperfect, and _I_ won"t bring any price, and _I"ll_ only be fit to cut up into cleaning cloths." What would you think of him? You"d say: "Why, that"s only an hour"s work in cloth and can be put aside without further thought. Just go right on and with your skill and judgment make the next piece perfect. It was never any of it _you_; it was the stuff you were making." Bodies are the stuff we are making."
Emily laid down her work. "Jane, that"s wonderful," she said solemnly.
"You put that so that I really got hold of it. I understand exactly what you mean, and if only everybody else did!"
"But n.o.body else really matters to you," said Jane; "all that matters to you is that you believe. They have their lives--you have yours."
Emily was looking very earnest. "I"m going to try," she said, rising.
"I"m going to try. I must go now, but I"m going home to go to work in my world."
Jane walked with her to the gate. "I"ll help you all I can," she said, "I"m so glad you"re interested. It makes life so splendid."
Emily stopped and took her hand.
"Jane," she said, "I want to tell you something. I want to marry Mr. Rath. I think he"s the nicest man I ever saw. Do you really--really--believe that I can, if I learn to think as you do?"
Jane turned white beneath the other"s eyes. "Why, but don"t you know--don"t you _see_ that he"s in love?"
"In love! With you?"
"With me,--oh, _no_. With Madeleine."
"Oh, no, he"s not in love with her," said Emily decidedly; "I know that.
I know that perfectly well."
"They knew one another before they came here, you know."
"Why, I see them round town together all hours," said Emily; "they"re like brother and sister, they"re not one bit in love. I thought that perhaps it was you."
"Oh, dear, no--I can"t marry. I never even think of it."
"Don"t you use any of your ideas with him?"
"No, indeed! I never ask anything for myself any more. I just ask to manifest G.o.d"s will,--to help in any of His work that offers."
"You"re awfully good, dear. But, honestly, do you think that I could surely get him if I tried?"
"Why, the law is certain, but"--Jane spoke gently--"you"re so far from understanding it yet. I only told you a little. It takes ever so long to get one"s mind built to where it will grasp an ideal and hold it without wavering once. There"s such a lot I didn"t tell you; I couldn"t in those few minutes. I just showed you the picture, and you have to work hard till you learn how to paint it. You see, a wish is like blowing a bubble, and if you add wishes and more wishes, you gradually change the bubble into a solid mold, which is a real thing of spirit but empty of material; then, if you keep it solid and firm, the fact of it is real spiritually, and a vacuum as to matter makes the matter just _have_ to fill it, and it is that filling into the mold shaped by our thoughts that makes what we see and live here in this world. The world is all matter circulating in thought-molds. Anything that you carefully and steadily and consistently think out must become manifest. G.o.d manifesting His will means that. We are His will. And the nearer we approximate to the highest in Him, the more we can manifest ourselves.
That"s why very good people are seldom rich; they want to manifest in deeds and not in things. That"s why they never keep money--it only represents to them the need of others. If you really and truly love Mr.
Rath, and feel it steadily and steadfastly your mission to make him very happy, of course it will be, even though he loved some one else. But to want a man who loved some one else wouldn"t be possible to any one who believed in this teaching. That"s where it is, you see. When you get power, you never want to do evil with it. Power from G.o.d never manifests in evil. When you are where you can get whatever you want, it simply means that you are living where only good can come, and where you are able to see it coming."
Emily stood perfectly still, looking downwards. Then suddenly she burst into violent sobs. "Oh, I feel so small, so mean--so wicked. It isn"t as you feel a bit with me. I just want to get out of this stupid town--and he"s so good-looking!"
Jane"s eyelids fell.
"I feel so mean and petty," Emily went on, pressing her hands over her face. "I could never be good like you. I can"t understand. I just want to be married. I"m so tired of my life."
"Well," said Jane, with steady firmness, "why don"t you go to him and talk it all over nicely? As you would with Madeleine or me. Perhaps that would be best."
"Do you really think so?" said Emily, lifting her eyes; "do you believe that a girl can go to a man and be honest with him, just as a man can with a woman?"
"I couldn"t," said Jane, "because I wouldn"t want to, but if you want to do it, I don"t see why you can"t."
"But why wouldn"t you?"
"Because I get my things that other way,--simply by asking G.o.d to guide me towards His will and guide me from mistake."
"Did you do that about asking old Mrs. Croft?"
"Certainly. I do it about everything. I live by that rule now. I"ve absolute faith in G.o.d"s guidance."
Emily looked at her. "It must be beautiful," she said, "and you really think that it would be all right for me to go and talk to him, do you?"
"Yes," said Jane slowly. "I think that it would be best all round."
"After all, this is the woman"s century," said Emily, with a sudden energy quite unlike her previous interest. "I don"t know why I shouldn"t."
"I think that the best way to handle all our problems is to let them flow naturally to their finish," said Jane; "dammed or choked rivers always make trouble."
"I should like to say just what I felt to a man just once," said Emily thoughtfully. "It would do me a world of good."
"Then say it," said Jane. "Only are you really sure that he"s not in love with Madeleine?"
"Oh, I"m positive as to that."
"Then go ahead."
They parted, and Jane returned to the house. She was not so entirely spiritual that she could repress a very human kind of smile over Emily"s project.
CHAPTER XIII
EMILY IS HERSELF FREELY