disease-working ones have got the upper hand. Just think!--our
parents, grandparents and great-grandparents are to blame for half
our evils. Their diseases become ours in various new forms. It's
cruel,--horrible! How anyone can believe that a God of Love created
such a frightful scheme passes my comprehension! The whole thing is
a mere business of eating to be eaten!"

She looked so wan and wild that I pitied her greatly.

"Surely that is not what you think at the bottom of your heart?" I
said, gently--"I should be very sorry for you if I thought you
really meant what you say."

"Well, you may be as sorry for me as you like"--and the poor lady
blinked away tears from her eyes--"I need someone to be sorry for
me! I tell you my life is a perfect torture. Every day I wonder how
long I can bear it! I have such dreadful thoughts! I picture the
horrible things that are happening to different people all over the
world, nobody helping them or caring for them, and I almost feel as
if I must scream for mercy. It wouldn't be any use screaming,--but
the scream is in my soul all the same. People in prisons, people in
shipwrecks, people dying by inches in hospitals, no good in their
lives and no hope--and not a sign of comfort from the God whom the
Churches praise! It's awful! I don't see how anybody can do anything
or be ambitious for anything--it's all mere waste of energy. One of
the reasons that made me so anxious to have you come on this trip
with us is that you always seem contented and happy,--and I want to
know why? It's a question of temperament, I suppose--but do tell me
why!"