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all-regulating God, attested, as it is required, by each obedient detail of the universal mechanism; but it is my heart that proclaims my communion with Him-that heart which, as a greater than Voltaire has said, has its own reasons, which reason cannot fathom, and which, believe me, Edward, she cannot overthrow." “Are you quite sure though, Cécile, that your friend Pascal is a much greater believer than I am ?"

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mere mockery, he resigned himself to the guidance of reason until appalled at the still trackless expanse ever opening before her, the wearied and perplexed leader resigned her hopeless task then he raised his eyes and pointed to the glorious light which was shining above. From that hour, all was clear, all was revealed. Oh! Edward, will that light never shine upon you?” "It has, it does, through your eyes, Cécile," replied he, in a lower and deeper tone.

She resolutely met his ardent glance and said, in a voice of soft but somewhat haughty reproach :

"I did not require, Edward, this crowning proof that such conversations are more perilous

still than useless. You will not easily, I trust, induce me to resume them again."

Where was our hero, while this animated dialogue was thus rapidly progressing to its ominous conclusion? All had reached him saving Edward's last half whispered observation, and not one single word had failed to arrest, we might almost say to entrance, his attention. He had never heard aught like it at the Coventry House Club, though the conversation there has been pronounced to be, upon a general average, decidedly superior to that which prevails at its rival assemblages; and, on that very account, perhaps, he was strangely led away by the spirit of the discourse. It spoke to a thousand slumbering feelings and faculties, whose voices had cheered and inspired him during many a bright hour, ere the study of all the treasures of the past had been abruptly relinquished, not many years since, for the ardent pursuits of the present. Edward Basinstoke, his school companion of those days, had correctly informed Cécile when he had told her that, though deficient in all the more recent acquirements of a duly finished education, his cousin's mind was gifted far above the ordinary par. Having

stated so much, in deference to the truth, we will only add now, for the correct information of our hapless reader, should we be so fortunate as to secure one, that though St. Edmunds took no share in the philosophical discussion above alluded to, Kant himself could scarcely have found a more intelligent or more reverential listener.

On that very evening there was a great dinner party at the hall, comprising, among other neighbours, the whole Thornhill family, and some friends who were on a visit to them. Many of these being naturally ignorant of Cécile's religious persuasion, it was not surprising that they should introduce the leading topic of the day, or that so exciting a subject, when once mooted, should have become the theme of the general discourse. The manifold deceptions of the Church of Rome, and, still more, the inconceivable ignorance, blindness, and superstition of her followers were set forth in terms so glowing as to make it perfectly marvellous that numerous, and, in other respects, enlightened communities should still be enthralled by such gross impostures. Much consolation was afforded, however, by the

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anticipation that the ensuing day being no other than the memorable fifth of November, a demonstration would be called forth from the people of England, so general, and at the same time, so exalted in its nature, as to cast upon the whole of Christendom a lustre which would dispel, if any thing could, the darkness in which an essential portion of it still lies enshrouded. While such was the tone and purport of the observations freely exchanged around her, St. Edmunds could not resist casting occasionally a glance at Cécile: once or twice he detected her secretly pressing to her lips her little crucifix ring; but upon the whole, her countenance and bearing were such as to lead him to trust that this resource might prove sufficient for the hour.

CHAPTER VII.

THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER.

THE hopeful expectations of the less sanguine amongst Sir Charles Basinstoke's guests were, upon the whole, we believe, tolerably well satisfied, in the eventful morrow, We, for our part, must avow that we were somewhat disappointed, the popular demonstration having been decidedly inferior both to that which was enacted at Rome on the preceding year, and also to another which took place at Aleppo about the same time. Still, when we consider the prodigious number of Christian prelates and dignitaries who were, on this occasion, promenaded and burnt in effigy, and

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