l-eep!" cried Duprez, in his cheery sing song accent, "why
apologize? We have amused ourselves! Our dear Sandy has a vein of humor
that is astonishing! We have not wasted our time. No! We have made Mr.
Dyceworthy our slave; we have conquered him; we have abased him! He is
what we please,--he is for all gods or for no god,--just as we pull the
string! In plain words, _mon cher_, that amiable religious is drunk!"

"Drunk!" cried Errington and Lorimer together. "Jove! you don't mean
it?"

Macfarlane looked up with a twinkle of satirical humor in his deep-set
grey eyes.

"Ye see," he said seriously, "the Lacrima, or Papist wine as he calls
it, was strong--we got him to take a good dose o't--a vera feir dose
indeed. Then, doun he sat, an' fell to convairsing vera pheelosophically
o' mony things,--it wad hae done ye gude to hear him,--he was fair lost
in the mazes o' his metapheesics, for twa flies took a bit saunter
through the pleasant dewy lanes o' his forehead, an' he never raised a
finger to send them awa' aboot their beeziness. Then I thoet I wad try
him wi' the whusky--I had ma pocket flask wi' me--an' O mon! he was
sairly glad and gratefu' for the first snack o't! He said it was
deevilish fine stuff, an' so he took ane drappikie, an' anither
drappikie, and yet anither drappikie,"--Sandy's accent got more and more
pronounced as he went on--"an' after a bit, his heed dropt doun, an' he
took a wee snoozle of a minute or twa,--then he woke up in a' his
strength an' just grappit the flask in his twa hands an' took the hale
o't off at a grand, rousin' gulp! Ma certes! after it ye shuld ha' seen
him laughin' like a feckless fule, an' rubbin' an' rubbin' his heed,
till his hair was like the straw kicked roond by a mad coo!"

Lorimer lay back in the stern of the boat and laughed uproariously at
this extraordinary picture, as did the others.

"But that is not all," said Duprez, with delighted mischief sparkling in
his wicked little dark eyes; "the dear religious opened his heart to us.
He spoke thickly, but we could understand him. He was very impressive!
He is quite of my opinion. He says all religion is nonsense, fable,
imposture,--Man is the only god, Woman his creature and subject.
Again,--man and woman conjoined, make up divinity, necessity, law. He
was quite clear on that point. Why did he preach what he did not
believe, we asked? He almost wept! He replied that the children of this
world liked fairy-stories and he w