turned to his beloved.

"Celeste, I entreat you on my knees," he said, "not to mingle that which
the law, in its wisdom, has separated. We live in two worlds,--society
and heaven. Each has its own way of salvation; but as to society, is it
not obeying God to obey the laws? Christ said: 'Render unto Caesar that
which is Caesar's.' Caesar is the body politic. Dear, let us forget our
little quarrel."

"Little quarrel!" cried the young enthusiast; "I want you to have my
whole heart as I want to have the whole of yours; and you make it
into two parts! Is not that an evil? You forget that marriage is a
sacrament."

"Your priesthood have turned your head," exclaimed the mathematician,
impatiently.

"Monsieur Phellion," said Celeste, interrupting him hastily, "enough of
this!"

It was at this point of the quarrel that Theodose considered it
judicious to enter the room. He found Celeste pale, and the young
professor as anxious as a lover should be who has just irritated his
mistress.

"I heard the word 'enough'; then something is too much?" he said,
inquiringly, looking in turn from Celeste to Felix.

"We were talking religion," replied Felix, "and I was saying to
mademoiselle how dangerous ecclesiastical influence is in the bosom of
families."

"That was not the point, monsieur," said Celeste, sharply; "it was
to know if husband and wife could be of one heart when the one is an
atheist and the other Catholic."

"Can there be such a thing as atheists?" cried Theodose, with all the
signs of extreme wonderment. "Could a true Catholic marry a Protestant?
There is no safety possible for a married pair unless they have perfect
conformity in the matter of religious opinions. I, who come from the
Comtat, of a family which counts a pope among its ancestors--for our
arms are: gules, a key argent, with supporters, a monk holding a church,
and a pilgrim with a staff, or, and the motto, 'I open, I shut'--I am,
of course, intensely dogmatic on such points. But in these days, thanks
to our modern system of education, it does not seem to me strange that
religion should be called into question. I myself would never marry a
Protestant, had she millions, even if I loved her distractedly. Faith is
a thing that cannot be tampered with. 'Una fides, unus Dominus,' that is
my device in life."

"You hear that!" cried Celeste, triumphantly, looking at Felix Phellion.

"I am not openly devout," continued la Peyrade. "I go to mass at six
e