And then he said, so very low that it was almost a whisper, "I have passed many years in the wilderness, Roger, many years trying to look into the hearts of people--and of God.

And this--this love of Nada's--is the greatest of all the miracles I have witnessed in a life that is now reaching to its three score and five.

Do you see the wonder of it, son?
And does it make you happy, and fearless now ?" He did not wait for an answer, but turned slowly and went in the direction of the cabin, leaving Roger alone under the thickening stars.
And McKay's face was like Father John's, filled with a strange and wonderful radiance when he looked up.

But with that light of happiness was also the fiercer underglow of a great determination.

For Nada--for THE BABY--the worst should not happen; he breathed the thought aloud, and in the words was a prayer that God might help him, and make unnecessary the sacrifice from which Father John had taken the sting of fear.