Contrary Mary

When at last Mary reached the Tower Rooms, she undressed in the dark.

She said her prayers in the dark, out loud, as had been her childish

habit. And this was what she said: "Oh, Lord, I want to believe in

Roger. Let me believe--don't let me doubt--let me believe."

When at last she slept, it was to dream and wake and to dream again.

And waking or dreaming, out of the shadows came ghostly creatures, who

whispered, "His little wife was a saint--how could she make him

unhappy?" And again, "He may have been cruel, how do you know that he

was not cruel?" And again, "If you were his wife, you would be

thinking always of that other wife--thinking--thinking--thinking."