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"It would be good," thought Prince Andrew, glancing at the icon

his sister had hung round his neck with such emotion and

reverence, "it would be good if everything were as clear and

simple as it seems to Mary. How good it would be to know where to

seek for help in this life, and what to expect after it beyond

the grave! How happy and calm I should be if I could now say:

'Lord, have mercy on me!'... But to whom should I say that?

Either to a Power indefinable, incomprehensible, which I not only

cannot address but which I cannot even express in words-the Great

All or Nothing-" said he to himself, "or to that God who has been

sewn into this amulet by Mary! There is nothing certain, nothing

at all except the unimportance of everything I understand, and

the greatness of something incomprehensible but all-important."