unbeliever!" she said. "You're one of those
people who go through life doubting everything. You shan't have him
for an ally, Bishop," she said, "because your points of view are
entirely different. Henry here doubts everything, from his own
existence to the vintage of my champagne. You, on the other hand," she
added, turning toward her other companion, "are forced to disbelieve,
because you feel that any new power or gift that may be granted to us,
and which we discover for ourselves, is opposed, of course, to your
creed."

"It depends," the bishop remarked, "upon the nature of that power."

"Even in its elementary stages," the Duchess said, "there is no doubt
that it is a power which can do a great deal for us towards solving
the mysteries of existence. Personally, I consider it absolutely and
entirely inimical to any form of religious belief."

"Why?" Rochester asked quietly.

"Because," the Duchess answered, "all the faith that has been lavished
upon religion since the making of the world, has been a misapplied
force. If it had been applied toward developing this new part of
ourselves, there is no doubt that so many thousands of years could
never have passed without our entering the last and greatest chamber
in the treasure-house of knowledge."

The bishop, being a privileged guest, and a cousin of his hostess,
deliberately turned his back upon her and escaped from the
conversation. The Duchess looked past him towards Saton, who was
sitting a few places down the table.

"There!" she exclaimed. "I have been braver than even you could have
been."

Saton smiled.

"That sort of courage," he remarked, "is the prerogative of your sex."

"You have heard what I said," she continued. "Don't you agree with
me?"

"Of course," he answered.

He hesitated for a moment, but the Duchess was looking at him. She
evidently expected him to continue the subject.

"We are told," he said slowly, "that there is no such thing as waste
in the physical world--that matter simply changes its form. I suppose
that is true enough. And yet a change of form can be for the better or
for the worse, according to our caprices. Strictly speaking, it is a
waste when matter is changed for the worse. It is very much like this,
I think, with regard to the subject which you were just then
discussing. Faith, from our point of view, is a very real and
psychical force. The faith which has been spent upon religion through
all these ages, seems to u