'Well, then, why not?'

'The music is so tender, so overwhelming, that thinking is
impossible.'

'Is thinking the only way to the truth--putting two and two
together? The noblest truth comes with music. More solid truth has
been demonstrated by a song, a march, or a hymn, than by famous
political and theological treatises. But I am not a Roman
Catholic.'

'Oh yes! I know what you mean: it is a poetical way of saying that
music stimulates aspiration.'

'No, that is not what I mean. If there be such a mental operation
as passionless thinking it does not lead to much. Emotion makes
intellectual discoveries.'

'I do not understand you. Revealed religion rests on intelligent
conviction. It is the doctrine of a Creator, of law, of sin, of
redemption, of future happiness and misery.'

'That is to say, your religion stands on authority or logic. But I
cannot dispute with you. The beliefs by which some of us live--
"belief" is not the right word--are not begotten or strengthened and
cannot be overthrown by argument. We dare not expose them, but if
they were to fail, we should welcome death and annihilation. I
repeat, I am not a Roman Catholic.'

Kate went back to her father and her native hills. The drama of