observing the canon's expression of unalterable gravity, which gave his
face the appearance of a pasteboard mask. "But, my dear boy, between
thinking things and showing them in that irreverent manner, there is a
distance which a man of good sense and good breeding should never cross.
I am well aware that your ideas are----Now, don't get angry! If you
get angry, I will be silent. I say that it is one thing to have certain
ideas about religion and another thing to express them. I will take good
care not to reproach you because you believe that God did not create us
in his image and likeness, but that we are descended from the monkeys;
nor because you deny the existence of the soul, asserting that it is a
drug, like the little papers of rhubarb and magnesia that are sold at
the apothecary's--"

"Senora, for Heaven's sake!" exclaimed Pepe, with annoyance. "I see that
I have a very bad reputation in Orbajosa."

The others remained silent.

"As I said, I will not reproach you for entertaining those ideas. And,
besides, I have not the right to do so. If I should undertake to argue
with you, you, with your wonderful talents, would confute me a thousand
times over. No, I will not attempt any thing of that kind. What I say
is that these poor and humble inhabitants of Orbajosa are pious and
good Christians, although they know nothing about German philosophy, and
that, therefore, you ought not publicly to manifest your contempt for
their beliefs."

"My dear aunt," said the engineer gravely, "I have shown no contempt for
any one, nor do I entertain the ideas which you attribute to me. Perhaps
I may have been a little wanting in reverence in the church. I am