as it would

"Don't tell me that it is forbidden, for Heaven's sake, Miss Basinstoke, then be perfectly impossible for

me to keep

clear of it. The fact is, that there is one little question, one only, that I am dying to put to you."

"I well know what these little questions are, and in what spirit they are made, so let me advise you to set your heart upon some other object, than obtaining an answer from me."

"Oh! do not refuse me, before you have even heard what I have to ask, Miss Basinstoke, or you will lose all title to the—what is it you said just now?—the 'courtesy' and 'forbearance' wasn't it? which I have condescended to show you as yet."

"The mere thought of such a penalty," observed the now smiling Cécile, “would be sufficient to insure my submission. You may state your question, providing, of course, that it has no theological bearing whatsoever."

"That is a restriction, Miss Basinstoke, which would seem to annul the concession; but as such cannot be your intention, I shall at once avail myself of the latter. What I wish to

know is, whether you really think that such self-inflicted torture as we accidentally discovered this morning can be acceptable to God?"

"And I should like to know, Lord St. Edmunds, whether you really think that such inquiries as these can be acceptable to me? I wish I could discover why it is that every most perplexing difficulty that can be raised upon religious matters is invariably here referred to me, who belong to a creed which forbids controversy no less strenuously than it enforces obedience."

"Shall I tell you why, Miss Basinstoke ?"
"I wish that you would."

"Because there is something in your look, in your voice, in your manner, as well as in the few words which fall from you when we are happy enough to hear you speak, which irresistibly persuades us that you have reflected upon these subjects far more deeply than most people, and that we have all much to learn from you."

"Very well pleaded indeed, Lord St. Edmunds; but perhaps you may find, among my innumerable perfections, that I am more proof against flattery than you would suppose."

"It is not a vain compliment on my part, though you despise it, I fear, as coming from one who is but ill-qualified to form or to express similar opinions."

"Do not make me responsible, I entreat you, for any such conjectures of your own. Long before I ever saw Lord St. Edmunds, I knew that, though he wears a sword, and has been rather too much led away, as yet, by the temptations which especially beset his age, rank and station, he has a mind fully capable of embracing all that is elevated and generous. Still, he must not be offended if I venture to tell him that the less he, too, trifles with the perilous science of theology the better."

"I am sure that you are right, Miss Cécile, when you thus so kindly and yet so cruelly reject me, as totally unworthy to converse with you upon the subject which I well know engrosses most of your thoughts. However, you may yet be wrong in denying to me that information which I am anxious to obtain in a very different spirit, I assure you, from that which I regret to see prevailing around you here. Do you believe that I am speaking to you sincerely ?"

"I do."

And still you refuse to answer my query ?" "Well, perhaps I must relent for this once, as you seem so very solicitous to hear my oracular voice. Your question was, whether I deemed the penance of self-imposed sufferings to be acceptable to the Almighty. My answer is, that though we do not pretend to such personal and direct communion, if I may so speak, with Him, with His views, with His intentions as others do, yet we firmly believe that He sanctions and approves whatever our Church prescribes. It might be sufficient for me, therefore, to say, that penance being authorized, and to a certain extent enforced by her, I obey her on this point as on others. I should not, however, be candidly expressing the whole of my opinion, if I did not tell you that I look to the consequences of the act more than to the mere performance of it."

"Ah! how is that?"

"Well, if you needs must know all," resumed she, scarcely suppressing a fresh smile at the earnest manner of her interrogator, "I will tell you that I find my conscience to be a fearful traitor, whose voice is seldom to be

heard when that of inducement is strongest, and whom I have actually detected, more than once, pleading the very cause of the Tempter himself. Now, such a homely little stratagem as that which was discovered this morning has certainly a surprising effect in recalling the said traitor to his duty. And supposing my besetting sin to be an undue impatience of criticism, or correction, and of ridicule, twenty little spikes, well set in my arm, and whose pressure is more keenly felt at any moment of excitement, are a safer and surer warning than any which the fickle betrayer will then afford."

Perhaps you will excuse me, Miss Basinstoke, if I ask whether the conscience may not be tutored to its duty by some more spiritual

means ?"

"Unquestionably these are the more refined and the more exalted; but, in my case, I believe a combination of both to be the most effective, particularly under present circumstances."

"Under present circumstances?" observed St. Edmunds. "Ah! I suppose that you have been more frequently tempted than usual of late, and I do wish that you could, in this