"Dios de mi alma! What will they say? A
heretic! If Tamalpais fell into the sea it would not
make so great a sensation in this California of ours
where civilized man exists but to drive heathen souls
into the one true church."

"Will it matter to you? Are you strong enough?
It will be only a question of time to win them over,
if you are."

She nodded emphatically. "I was born with
strength. Now--Dios!--now I can be stronger than
the King of Spain himself, than the Governor, my
parents and all the priests-- You would not be-
come a Catholic?" she asked abruptly.

He shook his head, although he still smiled at her.
"Not even for you."

"No," she said thoughtfully. "I will confess--
what matters it?--I often dreamed that this would
come just because I believed it would not. But why
should one control the imagination when it alone
can give us happiness for a little while? I gave it
rein, for I thought that one-half of my life was to
be passed in that unreal but by no means niggardly
world. And I thought of everything. To change
your religion would mean the ruin of your career;
moreover, it is not a possibility of your character.