ny
inclination which could cause him shame, but an intellectual and moral
aspiration to unite himself with some incorporeal feminine spirit, that
should belong completely to his incorporeal being, at the same time
remaining sufficiently distant from it, to admit of the intervention of
love between the two."

"Gracious!" murmured Noemi. Carlino was so excited, that he did not hear
her.

"The old man," said he, "seems to perceive in this union a human trinity
similar to the Divine Trinity, and therefore finds it just, finds it a
holy thing, that man should aspire to it. At last he is silent, overcome
by the things he has said; and walks towards Notre Dame. The maiden
takes his arm. Here behold the evil one, the spirit of temptation. You
yourselves have seen him! Tell me now, is not all this well thought out,
is it not well arranged? The old man and the girl flee from the evil
spirit, but like the sky, so their hearts grow dark. Now I need the
little window in the clouds, with the tiny star in the centre. The old
priest and the girl should silently watch the star quivering in the Lac
d'Amour, and many secret workings of their minds should culminate
in this idea; perhaps, beyond the clouds of the earth, there in that
distant world!"

Jeanne had not spoken a single word, nor shown in any way that she was
listening to her brother's story. Leaning over the parapet, she looked
into the dark water. At this point she started impetuously.

"But surely you do not believe this," she exclaimed. "You know that
these are delusions--dreams. You would never wish me to believe such
things. You would be the first to drive me away from you if I did."

"No," protested Carlino.

"Yes! And for the sake of producing something beautiful in literature
you, also, take to nurturing these dreams, which are already enervating
humanity to such a degree, already diverting people from the actualities
of life! I do not like it at all. An unbeliever like you! One who is
convinced, as I myself am convinced, that we are merely soap-bubbles
which sparkle for a moment, and then return not into nothing, but into
_everything!_"

"I, convinced?" answered Carlino, in astonishment. "I am not convinced
of anything. I am a doubter. It is my system; you know that. If now some
one were to tell me that the true religion was that of the Kaffirs, or
that of the Redskins, I should say, It may well be! I do not know them,
I see the falsity of those I do know, and