"Alas! Ah, yes!"

"But then I don't know what to make of some of the evidence that
remains. It seems to me that if evidence is worth anything at all,
there must be something real at the back of it all. And then, if that
is so, if it really is true that it is possible to get into actual
touch with people who are dead--I mean really and truly, so that
there's no kind of doubt about it--well, that does seem to me about
the most important thing in the world. Do you see?"

She kept her eyes on his face for an instant or two. Plainly he was
really moved; his face had gone a little white in the lamplight and
his hands were clasped tightly enough over his knee to whiten the
knuckles. She remembered Lady Laura's remarks about the village girl,
and understood. But she perceived that she must not attempt intimacy
just yet with this young man: he would resent it. Besides, she was
shrewd enough to see by his manner that he did not altogether like
her.

She nodded pensively once or twice. Then she turned to him with a
bright smile. "I understand entirely," she said. "May I too speak
quite freely? Yes? Well, I am so glad you have spoken out. Of course,
we are quite accustomed to being distrusted and feared. After all, it
is the privilege of all truth-seekers to suffer, is it not? Well, I
will say what is in my heart.

"First, you are quite right about some of our workers being dishonest
sometimes. They are, Mr. Baxter, I have seen more than one, myself,
exposed. But that is natural, is it not? Why, there have been bad
Catholics, too, have there not? And, after all, we are only human; and