I am afraid I snorted a little impatiently as I said, 'Nonsense! why,
with her face, and manner, and voice she could be anything she liked in
Edinburgh or in London.'

'And why Edinburgh or London?' he asked coolly.

'Why?' I repeated a little hotly. 'You think this is better?'

'Nazareth was good enough for the Lord of glory,' he answered, with
a smile none too bright; but it drew my heart to him, and my heat was
gone.

'How long will she stay?' I asked.

'Till her work is done,' he replied.

'And when will that be?' I asked impatiently.

'When God chooses,' he answered gravely; 'and don't you ever think but
that it is worth while. One value of work is not that crowds stare at
it. Read history, man!'

He rose abruptly and began to walk about. 'And don't miss the whole
meaning of the Life that lies at the foundation of your religion. Yes,'
he added to himself, 'the work is worth doing--worth even her doing.'

I could not think so then, but the light of the after years proved him
wiser than I. A man, to see far, must climb to some height, and I was
too much upon the plain in those days to catch even a glimpse of distant
sunlit uplands of triumphant achievement that lie beyond the valley of