"
"Yonder!" said she, pointing to the blue distance before us. "'Tis the
beyond--'tis the Future as do fright me."
"But I thought you feared nothing, Diana?"
"Only myself!" she cried, throwing out her arms in a sudden wild
gesture. "There be a devil inside o' me sometimes--a devil as even old
Azor was afeard of an' most o' the men--"
"Then I think this must be rather a good devil, Diana."
"Ah no--no!" she cried. "'Tis a devil as drives me to wild thoughts
an' ways--things as do shame me. 'Tis very fierce and strong!"
"Still, I do not think I fear this devil--or ever should, Diana."
"You? But you calls yourself a coward!"
"To be sure I did, and very properly, because I was greatly afraid of
a ruffian with a bludgeon and fled accordingly. But I do not fear
devils in the least."
"Because you don't know--"
"There you are quite wrong!" said I, patting the hand I still held and
noting its strength and shapeliness. "For, and apprehend me, Diana, we
all, each one of us, possess a devil large or small, and my own is
uncomfortably big and strong occasionally, and very difficult to
overcome. But this is what devils are for--"
"You're flamming me!" she cried angrily and snatched her hand away.
"A very unpleasing word! Pray what does it signify?"
"You're gammoning--"
"That is rather worse--"
"You're making game o' me!"
"On the contrary, I'm very serious! Don't you see, Diana, that all
demons and devils are a means to our ultimate good?"
"No, I don't! How can they be?"
"In this manner: every devil, be he an evil thought, passion, hate or
revenge, a desire to do harm, to lie, to steal, to kill or to run away
like a coward--these are all demons to be fought with and overcome,
and the oftener we vanquish them, the stronger and better we grow,
until at last you--or I--may become something very near an angel.
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