Two
days had not passed before he began to be aware of a softening and
clearing of his speech; of greater readiness and directness in his
replies; of an indescribable sweetening of the address, that had
been sweet, with a rose-shadow of gentle apology cast over every
approach; of a deepening of the atmosphere of his reverence, which
yet as it deepened grew more diaphanous. And when now the episode
of angelic visitation was over, with his usual wisdom he understood
the wrench her abrupt departure must have given his whole being,
and allowed him plenty of time to recover himself from it. Once he
came upon him weeping: not with faintest overshadowing did he
rebuke him, not with farthest hint suggest weakness in his tears.
He went up to him, laid his hand gently on his head, stood thus a
moment, then turned without a word, and left him. Nowise because of
his sorrow did he regret the freedom he had granted their
intercourse. He knew what the sharp things of life are to the human
plant; that its frosts are as needful as its sunshine, its great
passion-winds as its gentle rains; that a divine result is
required, and that his son was being made divinely human; that in
aid of this end the hand of man must humbly follow the great lines
of Nature, ready to withhold itself, anxious not to interfere. Most
people resist the marvellous process; call in the aid of worldly
wisdom for low ends; and bring the experience of their own failures
to bear for the production of worse.
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