AMONG THE ANGELIC ORDERS
199
thing and it's all clear, and you wish you could explain it. But they
wouldn't listen to you, and they interrupt, and
you
know. So then
you fight with them. But
if
they understood, you wouldn't have to
fight, do you see what I mean?"
"Mmm, as
if
you were looking at the world through a telescope,"
Sheila supplied. "But then they break the telescope. Then the infinite
disappears, until you get in touch again."
"Yes, yes," Gretchen quivered excitedly, although this was not
quite what she meant. Still, who else even could begin to under–
stand? Sometimes she really felt that Sheila was almost the only
person she could talk to.
"But how to hold on to it and keep them from breaking it."
They were really moving in quite different directions.
"I know. Like with my parents. Sometimes I sit there and they're
reading or something, and I can see exactly what they're like. I
mean, as
if
they were an X-ray. But they don't feel it at all. They
have no idea. -Do you think
everyone
has a soul, Sheila? I don't
know-about my mother especially."
"Everybody can't be in touch with their soul," Sheila informed
her. "Some people have no gift for it. The waves of the unseen go
right past."
"Everything
I
say goes right past them, I know
that,"
said
Gretchen, descending quickly from the metaphysical.
"They're really very sweet to me," Sheila said smoothly. "Per–
haps you can show them-you know, how to receive their messages.
It would be a pity
if
they grew older without getting in touch. Per–
haps the next time I come for dinner-"
"Oh, would you? I know they'd listen to you! Mother thinks
you're the best friend I've ever had, she'd listen, and so would Daddy.
Of course,
he
really does understand a little. He thinks you're so-–
so-oh, you know how he says it-'straightforward, honest, direct,
serious, mature, forthright'-that's real praise from
him,"
smiled
Gretchen, conferring this great honor on her friend.
The train unfortunately was slowing down just then and Sheila
had to interrupt. "It's my stop," she said and got up from her seat.
She smiled at Gretchen.
"Oh, dear, just as I was telling you-" The younger girl looked
at her watch. "I'll get out with you. I don't care if I
am
late."
