"Miss Ida," said a voice that made her start and crimson in spite
of herself, "may I come out and talk with you a little while?" and
she saw that Van Berg was speaking to her through the window blinds
of one of the private parlors.
"Yes," she said hesitatingly, "if you think it is best."
He went around and came openly to her side, bringing a small camp-chair
with him. as he steadied himself against a piazza column in taking
his seat, and leaned his crutches on the railing, her looks were
very sympathetic. With a smile he took on of his crutches in his
hands as he said:
"I have come to these very properly at last, and you must have
seen their significance. It is my spiritual and moral lameness,
however, that now troubles me most, Miss Mayhew. When lying at the
bottom of that ravine, expecting death, I vowed, like most sinners
in similar circumstances, I suppose, that if I ever escaped I
would become a Christian man. I intend to keep the vow if it is
a possible thing. But I make no progress. I prayed then, and I
have prayed and read my Bible since, but everything is forced and
formal, and the thought will come to me continually, that I might
as well pray to Socrates or Plato as to Christ.
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