here in the Bible?"

"Doubtless, Edith; but I'm not one of the pious kind, you know."

Claire forced a smile to his face, but his wife looked serious, and
remarked--

"I don't like to hear you talk so, Edward. There is in it, to
me, something profane. Ah, my dear husband, in this simple yet
all-embracing doctrine of providence lies the whole secret of human
happiness. If our Creator be infinite, wise, and good, he will seek
the well-being of his creatures, even though they turn from him to do
violence to his laws; and, in his infinite love and wisdom, will so
order and arrange events as to make every thing conspire to the end
in view. Both bodily and mental suffering are often permitted to take
place, as the only agencies by which to counteract hereditary evils
that would otherwise destroy the soul."

"Ah, Edie! Edie!" said Claire, interrupting his wife, in a fond,
playful tone, "you are a wise preacher, and as good as you are wise.
I only wish that I could see and feel as you do; no doubt it would be
better for me in the end. But such a wish is vain."

"Oh, say not so, dear husband!" exclaimed Edith, with unexpected
earnestness; "say not so! It hurts me almost like words of personal
unkindness."

"But how can I be as good as you are? It isn't in me."

"I am not good, Edward. There is none good but God," answered the wife
solemnly.

"Oh yes, yes! You are an angel!" returned Claire, with a sudden
emotion that he could not control. "And I--and I--"

He checked himself, turned his face partly away to conceal its
expression, sat motionless for a moment, and then burying his face
on the bosom of his wife, sobbed for the space of nearly a minute,
overcome by a passion that he in vain struggled to master.

Never had Edith seen her husband so moved. No wonder that she was
startled, even frightened.

"Oh, Edward, dear Edward! what ails you?" were her eager, agitated
words, so soon as she could speak. "What has happened? Oh, tell me, my
husband, my dear husband!"

But Claire answered not, though he was gaining some control over his
feelings.

"Oh, Edward! won't you speak to me? Won't you tell me all your
troubles, all your heart? Am I not your wife, and do I not love you
with a love no words can express? Am I not your best and closest
friend? Would I not even lay down my life for your good? Dear Edward,
what has caused this great emotion?"

Thus urged, thus pleaded the tearful Edith. But there was no reply,
th