In a Mysterious Way

In the background of Anne Warner's story are her favorite "near neighbors," one a sort of leaner, the other the cheerful, energetic, capable woman of many activities, whose constant refrain. "He moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform," "fits everything and accounts for everything." Embodying the spirit of this refrain in the "new life" sense is portrayed the young woman contemplating marriage with a man who as the result of an accident, has only a brief span of life before him. Her spiritual development permits her to believe that bodies and what they suffer do not count; that love is eternal. When death separates them before the marriage takes place, there is an immediate and conscious reincarnation. The soul of the man regenerates a sin-burdened wayfarer, and so serves a needed end; but as for friendship between the new man and the young woman. It is torture to the bereft woman and she goes her own way.