lieve...that not one sparrow falls to the ground...."
He flushed, and went on in a more mundane tone: "I am glad you have the
hope of Mr. Langhope's arrival to keep you up. Modern science--thank
heaven!--can do such wonders in sustaining and prolonging life that,
even if there is little chance of recovery, the faint spark may be
nursed until...."

He paused again, conscious that the dusky-browed young woman, slenderly
erect in her dark blue linen and nurse's cap, was examining him with an
intentness which contrasted curiously with the absent-minded glance she
had dropped on him in entering.

"In such cases," she said in a low tone, "there is practically no chance
of recovery."

"So I understand."

"Even if there were, it would probably be death-in-life: complete
paralysis of the lower body."

He shuddered. "A dreadful fate! She was so gay and active----"

"Yes--and the struggle with death, for the next few weeks, must involve
incessant suffering...frightful suffering...perhaps vainly...."

"I feared so," he murmured, his kind face paling.

"Then why do you thank heaven that modern science has found such
wonderful ways of prolonging life?"

He raised his head with a start and their eyes met. He saw that the
nurse's face was pale and calm--almost judicial in its composure--and
his self-possession returned to him.

"As a Christian," he answered, with his slow smile, "I can hardly do
otherwise."

Justine continued to consider him thoughtfully. "The men of the older
generation--clergymen, I mean," she went on in a low controlled voice,
"would of course take that view--must take it. But the conditions are so
changed--so many undreamed-of means of prolonging life--prolonging
suffering--have been discovered and applied in the last few years, that
I wondered...in my profession one often wonders...."

"I understand," he rejoined sympathetically, forgetting his youth and
his inexperience in the simple desire to bring solace to a troubled
mind. "I understand your feeling--but you need have no doubt. Human
life is sacred, and the fact that, even in this materialistic age,
science is continually struggling to preserve and prolong it,
shows--very beautifully, I think--how all things work together to
fulfill the divine will."

"Then you believe that the divine will delights in mere pain--mere
meaningless animal suffering--for its own sake?"

"Surely not; but for the sake of the spiritual life that may be
mysteriously