As soon as I could I seized an opportunity to get to Miss Cardigan. I found her among her flowers, nipping off here a leaf and there a flower that had passed its time; so busy, that for a few moments she did not see that I was different from usual. Then came the question which I had been looking for.
"I haven't been right since I got that standish," I burst forth.
Miss Cardigan looked at me again, and then did what I had not expected; she took my head between her two hands and kissed me. Not loosing her hold, she looked into my face.
"Miss Cardigan," I said, "can any one be a Christian and yet yet "
"Do something unworthy a Christian?" she said. "I wot well, they can! But then, they are weak Christians."
I knew that before. But somehow, hearing her say it brought the shame and the sorrow more fresh to the surface. The tears came. Miss Cardigan pulled me into the next room and sat down, drawing me into her arms; and I wept there with her arms about me.
"What then, Daisy?" she asked at length, as if the suspense pained her.
"I acted so, Miss Cardigan," I said; and I told her about it.
"So the devil has found a weak spot in your armour," she said. "You must guard it well, Daisy."
"How can you? Keep your shield before it, my bairn. What is your shield for? The Lord has given you a great strong shield, big enough to cover you from head to foot, if your hands know how to manage it."
"The shield of _faith_, dear. Only believe. According to your faith be it unto you."
"Believe what?" I asked, lifting my head at last.
"Believe that if you are a weak little soldier, your Captain knows all about it; and any fight that you go into for his sake, he will bear you through. I don't care what. Any fight, Daisy."
"But I got impatient," I said, "at the girls' way of talking."
"And perhaps you were a wee bit set up in your heart because you had got the prize of the day."
"Don't it look like it? Even proud of being a Christian, mayhap."
"It wouldn't be the first time one with as little cause had got puffed up a bit. But heavenly charity 'is not puffed up.' "
"I know that," I said; and my tears started afresh.
"How shall I help it in future?" I asked after a while, during which my friend had been silent.
