The gates ajar. By Elizabeth Stuart Phelps.

I8 The Gates Ajar.
all that. I do not know that it is necessary
for us to be able to watch every footprint of
God. The way is all that concerns us, -to see
that we follow it and Him. This I am sure
of; and knocking about in this army life only
convinces me of what I felt in a certain way
before,- that it is the only way, and He the
only guide to follow."
But how could I say anything of this to
Deacon Quirk?-this my sealed and sacred
treasure, of all that Roy left me the dearest.
At any rate I did not. It seemed both obstinate and cruel in him to come there and say
what he had been saying. He might have
known that I would not say that Roy had gone
to Heaven, if- why, if there had been the
breath of a doubt. It is a possibility of which
I cannot rationally conceive, but I suppose that
his name would never have passed my lips.
So I turned away from Deacon Quirk, and
shut my mouth, and waited for him to finish.
Whether the idea began to struggle into his
mind that he might not have been making a
very comforting remark, I cannot say; but he
started very soon to go.
"Supposing you are right, and Royal was
saved at the eleventh hour," he said at part