all care and responsibility, and to know
that whatever the Church decides is a right thing for us to believe!"

From what the person said, Jack had now no longer any doubt that he was
a priest of Rome; but the more he listened the less inclined he became
to acknowledge the correctness of his assertion. Jack watched Alethea's
countenance, and he could not help hoping that neither did she
altogether agree with him. They seemed, however, to have more effect
upon Mr Harwood, for whom, in all probability, they were equally
intended. His fathers had been Romanists, and he himself, though
belonging to the Church of England, had never very perfectly imbibed
Protestant truth. Master Stirthesoul made no remark, which surprised
Jack, as the doctrines put forth by the priest were diametrically
opposed to those which that worthy had himself been a short time ago
enunciating to the public. There was a twinkle occasionally in his eye,
but that might have arisen from the pleasure with which he was
discussing the viands placed before him, and Jack could not discover
whether he approved or not of the doctrines which were being laid down.
Still it was curious to find two persons of apparently different
opinions so closely associated with each other, as it was evident was
the case.

Jack all the time was longing to have some private conversation with
Alethea; but the other guests showed no inclination to take their
departure; and he felt that he could not remain much longer, as his
companion, Burdale, would naturally be becoming impatient. He himself
could not agree with the priest's remarks, plausible as they were.
Though he had not seen much of Romanists, he had heard a good deal of
what took place at Rome, and believed truly that the union spoken of was
very far from being real. He had heard, too, of a Spanish army of Roman
Catholics attacking Rome, and of its being given up to them to pillage,
they having treated the dignitaries of the Church and the Pope himself
with even less respect than did their Protestant brothers-in-arms. He
had heard, too, that it was not proved that Peter had ever been at Rome,
much less that he was a Bishop of that city; and he was not altogether
ignorant of the existence of the Inquisition, and of the mode by which
that institution endeavoured to support the Church of Rome and the
dogmas it inculcated.

The more the priest praised Rome and its system, the more anxious Jack
became to speak to Aleth