Testing: Day 12

Word Count: 72,015

Summary of Events:

Gabriel went to visit Ivy again and found that she seemed to have forgotten all that they'd discussed, things degenerated as he tried again and in the end he left after Ivy gave him several blows to the eye. After he left Ivy determined that she would return home on her own, but the Bramwells didn't want to let her go unescorted and ended up locking her in her room until she settled down. Gabriel had a hard time sleeping, wrestling with the feeling he'd failed, so he went to visit Pastor Schnetler . . . 

Excerpt of the Day:

""Sit down, tell me," Pastor Schnetler said, looking concerned.

Gabriel sat down. "I managed to get my point through to her not long after we last talked, and then I let her be for a few days to think it over before I decided to stop by again and see if she had any questions for me," he said. "I don't think she thought on it at all — not that I told her to or anything — and she seemed like she'd forgotten the whole thing. I tried to explain things to her again and it just didn't work and then I said that there might well come some good out of Mr. Bramwell's death, and I was meaning soon, and she got upset at me and I was frustrated because she seemed to have forgotten everything I told her and then she told me to leave and never come back and then started hitting me in the eye and then I told her to let me go and I left. I then realised later that Mrs. Bramwell, in her effusion of words when she greeted me, told me that Miss Oldford's parents are coming on the weekend to bring her home and I've completely blown my opportunity and now I'm never going to get it again."

"Now wait just a minute," Pastor Schnetler said. "You talk too fast in English for me. So she didn't seem to remember anything you told her?"

"No," Gabriel replied.

"Don't you think that the devil might've convinced her to put it out of her mind, telling her it was lies and not what he was telling her?" Pastor Schnetler asked.

"Yes," Gabriel replied.

"You didn't fail," Pastor Schnetler said. "And besides, nothing said that you were going to succeed in convincing her. Maybe that's someone else's job."

"I don't want it to be someone else's job," Gabriel said.

Pastor Schnetler looked at Gabriel with intrigue. "And why not?"

Gabriel stared at Pastor Schnetler, his shoulders dropped, his breath coming rapidly as he fought the urge to weep. He had no idea.

A slight smile curled Pastor Schnetler's mouth. "Do you have an affection for her?"

Gabriel startled and stared at Pastor Schnetler, his mouth agape.

"There is no harm in it," Pastor Schnetler replied. "I am merely asking."

"I don't know," Gabriel replied.

"Regardless, maybe it is not yet the time," Pastor Schnetler said. "You have done well, I do believe, but remember what the Apostle Paul says: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.* Your battle is not easy, but you have fought valiantly, and now it is time for you to regain your exhausted strength, reevaluate your position, and then forge on, possibly to another conflict yet before God calls you to meet with Miss Oldford again — should it even be that He should do so.""

*from For to places is Eph. 6:12 King James Version