Richard was again silent for a while; then he said—
“I had no intention of saying anything of the sort, but I promise because you wish it.”
“Thank you! thank you!”
“I promise too,” added Richard, “that I will not say anything more of that kind until I have thought a good deal more about it.”
“Thank you again heartily!” said Barbara. “I am sure of one thing—that you cannot have ground for not hoping! Is not hope all we have got? He is the very butcher of humanity who kills its hope! It is hope we live by!”
“But if it be a false hope?”
“A false hope cannot do so much harm as a false fear!”
“The false fear is just what I oppose. The Bible tells people—”
“There you are back to the book you don't believe in! And because you don't believe in the book that makes people afraid, you insist there can be no such thing as the gladness my heart cries out for! If you want to make people happy, why don't you preach a good God instead of no God?”
“I will think about what you say,” replied Richard.