"
Ida, who a few weeks before would have heard this conversation
with unqualified disgust, had listened with eager eyes and parted
lips, and she now said coldly, but with a deep sigh:
"Your God and happy shore, Miss Burton, are too vague and far away.
Troubles and temptations are in our very hearts."
Van Berg looked hastily toward her, but she rose and turned her
face from him.
Mr. Mayhew shook his head despondently, as if his daughter's words
found a deep, sad echo in his own nature.
"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter; said the wise man
of old, 'all is vanity and vexation of spirit,'" cried Stanton,
with the air of one who was trying to escape from a nightmare.
Miss Burton at once became her old, smiling self.
"You do not quote 'the wise man' correctly," she said; "but you
remind me that he did say 'a merry heart doeth good like a medicine.'
It is like mercy 'twice blessed.' This much, at least, I know is
true; and Mr. Van Berg's words have put us all at sea to such an
extant that it is well to find one wee solid point to stand on."
As the artist passed out he found opportunity to whisper in her
ear:
"I cannot tell you how much I honor the woman who with her SAD
heart makes others 'merry.
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