She had again and again held long conversations with Mr.Allen on this subject, but he failed to help her.

He was a good man, of average conscientiousness and average perception: he literally could not see many of the points which Mercy's keener analysis ferreted out, and sharpened into weapons for her own pain.
He thought her simply morbid.
"Now, child," he would say,--for, although he was only a few years Mercy's senior, he had taught her like a child for three years,--"now, child, leave off worrying yourself by these fancies.

There is not the least danger of your ever being any thing but truthful.

Nature and grace are both too strong in you.

There is no lie in saying to a person who has come to see you in your own house, 'I am glad to see you,' for you are glad; and, if not, you can make yourself glad, when you think how much pleasure you can give the person by talking with him.