or Unanswered?

"Glory to God to God!" he saith,
"Knowledge by suffering entereth,
And life is perfected by death." E. B. Browning

"Mr. Raeburn is curiously like the celebrated dog of nursery lore, who
appertained to the ancient and far-famed Mother Hubbard. All the
doctors gave him up, all the secularists prepared mourning garments,
the printers were meditating black borders for the 'Idol-Breaker,' the
relative merits of burial and cremation were already in discussion, when
the dog we beg pardon the leader of atheism, came to life again.

"'She went to the joiners to buy him a coffin,
But when she came back the dog was laughing.'

"History," as a great man was fond of remarking, "'repeats itself.'"

Raeburn laughed heartily over the accounts of his recovery in the comic
papers. No one better appreciated the very clever representation of
himself as a huge bull-dog starting up into life while Britannia in
widow's weeds brought in a parish coffin. Erica would hardly look at the
thing; she had suffered too much to be able to endure any jokes on
the subject, and she felt hurt and angry that what had given her such
anguish should be turned into a foolish jest.

At length, after many weeks of weary anxiety, she was able to breathe
freely once more, for her father steadily regained his strength. The
devotion of her whole time and strength and thought to another had done
wonders for her, her character had strangely deepened and mellowed. But
no sooner was she free to begin her ordinary life than new perplexities
beset her on every side.

During her own long illness she had of course been debarred from
attending any lectures or meetings whatever. In the years following,
before she had quite regained her strength, she had generally gone to
hear her father, but had never become again a regular attendant at the
lecture hall. Now that she was quite well, however, there was nothing
to prevent her attending as many lectures as she pleased, and naturally,
her position as Luke Raeburn's daughter made her presence desirable.
So it came to pass one Sunday evening in July that she happened to be
present at a lecture given by a Mr. Masterman.

He was a man whom they knew intimately. Erica liked him sufficiently
well in private life, and he had been remarkably kind and helpful at the
time of her father's illness. It was some years, however, since she had
heard him lecture, and this evening, by the virulenc