d," the Englishman proclaimed.

Caesar and Kennedy disagreed about everything.

Susanna discussed her plans, and constantly referred to Paul Bourget's
novel _Cosmopolis_, which had obviously influenced her in her
inclination for Catholicism.

"Are there many Jewish ladies who aspire to be baptized and become
Catholics, as Bourget says?" asked Susanna.

"Bah!" exclaimed Caesar.

"You do not believe that either?"

"No, it strikes me as a piece of naivety in this good soul of a
novelist. To become a Catholic, I don't believe requires more than some
few pesetas."

"You are detestable, as a Cardinal's nephew."

"I mean that I don't perceive that there are any obstacles to prevent
anybody from becoming a Catholic, as there are to prevent his becoming
rich. What a high ambition, to aspire to be a Catholic! While nobody
anywhere does anything but laugh at Catholics; and it has become an
axiom: 'A Catholic country is a country bound for certain ruin.'"

Kennedy burst out laughing.

Susanna said that she had no real faith, but that she did have a great
enthusiasm for churches and for choirs, for the smell of incense and
religious music.

"Spain is the place for all that," said Kennedy. "Here in Italy the
Church ceremonies are too gay. Not so in Spain; at Toledo, at Burgos,
there is an austerity in the cathedrals, an unworldliness...."

"Yes," said Caesar; "unhappily we have nothing left there but
ceremonies. At the same time, the people are dying of hunger."

They discussed whether it is better to live in a decorative, esthetic
sphere, or in a more humble and practical one; and Susanna and Kennedy
stood up for the superiority of an esthetic life.

As they left the hotel Caesar said to Kennedy:

"Allow me a question. Have you any intentions concerning Mrs.
Marchmont?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Simply because I shouldn't go to see her often, so as not to be in the
way."

"Thank you ever so much. But I have no intentions in relation to her.
She is too beautiful and too rich a woman for a modest employee like me
to fix his eyes on."

"Bah! A modest diplomat! That is absurd. It is merely that you don't
take to her."

"No. It's because she is a queen. There ought to be some defect in her
face to make her human."

"Yes; that's true. She is too much of a prize beauty."

"That is the defect in the Yankee women; they have no character. The
weight of tradition might be fatal to industry and modern life, but it
is t