perceptible, and causes an uneasy feeling of distrust, which is all
the more tormenting from its vagueness and want of definition. The
low-class Roman Catholics, I find, never hesitate if a lie will serve
their purpose; and Roman Catholic servants are notoriously
untrustworthy. That, of course, proves nothing, for one knows that
low-class people of any religion are not to be depended on--still,
there is no doubt that one finds deception more rife among Catholics
than among Protestants, and one wonders why, if the religion is not to
blame."

My sister, Claudia, had tried to catch Ideala's eye, and stop her, but
in vain; and the lady next her broke out the moment she paused:
"Indeed, you are quite wrong. You cannot have known many Catholics.
They are not untrue."

"O yes, I have known numbers," Ideala answered; "I speak from
experience. Yet it always seems to me that the Roman Catholic religion
is good for individuals. There is pleasure in it, and help and comfort
for them. But then it is death to the progress of nations, and the
question is: Would an individual be justified in adding a unit more for
his own benefit to a system which would ruin his country? I think not."

Here, however, she stopped, seeing at last that something was wrong.

"What dreadful mistake did I make this evening?" she asked me
afterwards. "Mrs. Jervois declared she wasn't a Catholic."

"But her husband is," I answered; "and he heard every word."

Ideala groaned.