ep these up? And you, Dr. Kemp?"

Dr. Kemp had been listening attentively while Ruth spoke. His eyes
kindled brightly as he answered,--

"Why should she not? If all her orisons have made her as beautiful, body
and soul, as she is to me, what is to prevent her from so continuing?
And if my wife would permit me to go with her upon her holidays to your
beautiful Temple, no one would listen more reverently than I. Loving
her, what she finds worshipful could find nothing but respect in me."

Plainly Mr. Levice had forgotten the wellspring that was to enrich their
lives; but he perceived that some impregnable armor encased them that
made every shot of his harmless.

"I can understand," he ventured, "that no gentleman with self-respect
would, at least outwardly, show disrespect for any person's religion.
You, Doctor, might even come to regard with awe a faith that has
withstood everything and has never yet been sneered at, however its
followers have been persecuted. Many of its minor forms are slowly dying
out and will soon be remembered only historically; this history belongs
to every one."

"Certainly. Let us, however, stick to the point in question. You are a
man who has absorbed the essence of his religion, and cast off most
of its unnecessary externals. You have done the same for my--for your
daughter. This distinguishes you. If I were to say the characteristic
has never been unbeautiful in my eyes, I should be excusing what needs
no excuse. Now, sir, I, in turn, am a Christian broadly speaking; more
formally, a Unitarian. Our faiths are not widely divergent. We are both
liberal; otherwise marriage between us might be a grave experiment. As
to forms, for me they are a show, but for many they are a necessity,--a
sort of moral backbone without which they might fall. Sunday is to me a
day of rest if my patients do not need me. I enjoy hearing a good sermon
by any noble, broad-minded man, and go to church not only for that,
but for the pleasure of having my spiritual tendencies given a gentle
stirring up. There is one holiday that I keep and love to keep; that is
Christmas."

"And I honor you for it; but loving this day of days, looking for
sympathy for it from all you meet, how will it be when in your own home
the wife whom you love above all others stands coldly by and watches
your feelings with no answering sympathy? Will this not breed
dissension, if not in words, at least in spirit? Will you not feel the
want and