"And I want to show them to you."

"I fear I am only a critic," said Miss Arundel, "and I do not admire
mere critics. I was very free in my comments to you on several subjects
at Vauxe; and I must now say I thought you bore it very kindly."

"I was enchanted," said Lothair, "and desire nothing but to be ever
subject to such remarks. But this affair of the cathedral, it is your
own thought -- I would fain hope your own wish, for unless it were your
own wish I do not think I ever should be able to accomplish it."

"And when the cathedral is built," said Miss Arundel "what then?"

"Do you not remember telling me at Vauxe that all sacred buildings
should be respected, for that in the long-run they generally fell to the
professors of the true faith?"

"But when they built St. Peter's, they dedicated it to a saint in
heaven," said Miss Arundel. "To whom is yours to be inscribed?"

"To a saint in heaven and in earth," said Lothair, blushing; "to St.
Clare."

But Lady St. Jerome and her guests rose at this moment, and it is
impossible to say with precision whether this last remark of Lothair
absolutely reached the ear of Miss Arundel. She looked as if it had
not. The priests and the other guests dispersed. Lothair accompanied
the ladies to the drawing-room; he lingered, and he was meditating if
the occasion served to say more.