"Are they, my dear? I should like to see the prospectus of that enterprise."

"You are mocking, papa. They are to be restored; it says so in the Bible quite clearly."

"I am not mocking, Phyllis. If gold is discovered in Palestine, the Jews may go there in some numbers; but, take my word for it, they won't go otherwise. They couldn't live in their own land, assuming that it is their own, which is going pretty far. Palestine wouldn't support all the Jews alive at present; it's a wretched country--I know it well. Besides, they don't want to return to it, and furthermore, we couldn't spare them."

"I believe in the Bible, and I have faith," said Phyllis firmly.

"That's right," said her father. "I hope you may always hold to both. I think that those girls who expect to be regarded as advanced, because they scoff at the Bible and at faith, are quite horrid. I also hope that you will not eventually marry an infidel."

"That would be impossible," said Phyllis firmly.

"Would it?" said her father. "There is a stronger influence at work in most of us, at times, than religion. I wonder if it will make a victim of you, my child, though you did send George Holland about his business."

"I don't quite know what you mean," said Phyllis, with only the slightest possible flush.