"That comes to what I was saying," said La Croissette; "that there is
but one event to the good and to the bad."

"It seems so, though it is not so," said I. "But don't you perceive in
this a grand argument in favor of a future life?"

"I am no scholar, I;--you must explain it to me," said La Croissette.

"If the Lord lets his dear children fall into the same afflictions here
as the rebellious and impenitent, it is because He knows that in the
long run, it will be to their advantage rather than otherwise: that they
will turn their trials to such good account as actually to be the better
for them; and that their light affliction, which is but for a moment,
will work for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
So that hereafter they shall look back on their present pains, not only
with indifference but with thankfulness. But ah! where shall then the
unrighteous and sinner appear?"

"You seem to have a natural gift for preaching," said La Croissette,
after a pause. "Where will they appear, say you? Why, if our priests
are to be believed, those of them, even the very worst, who have money
enough to pay for masses and indulgences, may buy themselves off from
purgatory, and shine in glory with the best."

"Does not that carry incredibility and absurdity on the very face of
it?"

"It seems very hard on the poor man who can't buy himself off," said La
Croissette. "You Huguenots, then, don't believe in it?"