The Outsider Read Online Free Page B

But he did care for Brother Nathan gently and with great care and concern.”
    Sister Mercy studied her face for a long moment before saying, “But, child, why did you want to talk to me? Have you some sin to confess? Did the man hurt you in any way?”
    “He troubled my mind, Sister Mercy, and I don’t understand the reason for it.”
    Sister Mercy let out a small sigh of relief. “You needn’t worry, Sister Gabrielle. Those of the world often trouble the true believer. They have no understanding of the peace we have here. The peace that you have so abundantly, my child. The shadow he has cast over your mind will evaporate like mist in the morning sun if you remember how the Eternal Father has so gifted you with love here among us.” She smiled at Gabrielle and waited a minute before she asked, “So is that all?”
    Suddenly Gabrielle couldn’t tell her any more. She couldn’t tell her how the doctor’s fingers lifting her chin had warmed her whole being. She could only beg the Eternal Father’s forgiveness for such wayward thoughts in silence. Gabrielle lowered her eyes to her hands and said, “Yea.”
    “Then you needn’t see him again. That way his worldliness cannot trouble you more.”
    “But I must go see Brother Nathan again,” Gabrielle said and then held up her bandaged hand. “And the doctor said I should go to him in the morning to let him treat my hand again. It seems I suffered a slight burn when I helped smother the flames on Brother Nathan’s legs.”
    Sister Mercy was deep in thought for a long time before she finally said, “Very well. Your hand needs to be treated for the good of all. I shall go with you in the morning to shield you from his worldliness. He has not the proper respect for our beliefs.”
    “Yea,” Gabrielle said quietly.
    Sister Mercy reached over and touched Gabrielle’s hands again. “You see, my child, the Believers have joined together in a family as a separate society from the world where all reasons for sin are removed from our lives. Everyone works for the good of all and without the strife of the individual marriage and family. But when someone comes among us from the world he brings evil thoughts and ideas with him. That evil can touch and disturb our inner calm. But it is just a momentary thing. Nothing a true Believer needs worry about. The stranger will soon go back to the world and his disrupting influence will leave with him.”
    Gabrielle lowered her eyes and said, “Yea, it will surely be so.”
    “It will,” Sister Mercy said. “Now let us pray quickly before the morning duties begin.”
    “What shall I pray, Sister Mercy?”
    “That the doctor’s worldliness has left no stain upon you.”
    “And for Brother Nathan’s recovery? Surely that is a proper prayer this morning.”
    “Yea. For Brother Nathan’s recovery and for his true acceptance of the Believers’ way.”
    Later as she listened to her youngsters reciting their spelling lessons, Gabrielle felt shame for not praying as Sister Mercy had directed her. Gabrielle didn’t want this Dr. Scott to go away. Not yet. She had a great curiosity about him. She wanted to know what made him speak as he did and why he used cures others disdained. She wanted to understand the sad look that had crept into his eyes as he had looked at her the night before. And perhaps her largest reason for shame, she wanted to know more about the world he’d come from.
    For more than five years she’d not thought much of the world at all. It was there beyond the border of their village, but she never thought to have any part of it again. But the doctor had pushed a new feeling into her mind. A feeling that would have to be fought.
    She tightened her mouth and straightened her shoulders as she pushed all such whimsical thoughts of the world out of her mind. There would be no questions for Dr. Scott. She had put things of the world behind her, and it was best if she remembered that. The Believers’ life was her