I don't pretend that I understand
all the facts, but I do know pretty well what the facts are. I believed
in Mrs. Crapps, and that belief kept me up. When I couldn't believe in
her, that was the end of it."
There seemed to Berenice something uncanny and monstrous in this calm
acquiescence. She could not comprehend how her cousin could give up the
struggle for life in this fashion, after having succeeded so long in
holding death at bay.
"But surely," she protested, "you can't be willing to let everything
depend upon her. You've proved the possibility"--
"I've proved the possibility of depending upon somebody else; that's
all."
"Then find another woman that you can believe in."
"It is too late. I can't have the faith over again. I should always be
expecting another humiliating downfall of my prophetess."
She was silent a moment, and then continued:--
"Do you know, Bee, it seems to me after all that my experience is like
almost all religion. There are a few men and women who believe in
themselves in that self-poised way that makes it possible for them to
get on with just ethics; and there are those who can take hold of
unseen things; but for the rest of us it's necessary to have some human
being to lean on.
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