ently.'

'Really, sometimes, with the lookers-on who have accepted the doctrines
without feeling them. They, having no experience, feel the failure of
evidence, where the tangible ends.'

'Do you mean to say that this was the case with yourself, my dear? I
should have thought, if ever child were good--'

'So did I,' said Owen, smiling. 'I simulated the motions to myself and
every one else: and there was a grain of reality, after all; but neither
you nor I ever knew how much was mere imitation and personal influence.
When I outgrew implicit faith in _you_, I am afraid my higher faith went
with it--first through recklessness, then through questioning. After
believing more than enough, the transition is easy to doubting what is
worthy of credit at all.'

'From superstition to rationalism.'

'Yes; overdoing articles of faith and observances, while the mind and
conscience are young and tender, brings a dangerous reaction when liberty
and independent reflection begin.'

'But, Owen, I may have overdone observances, yet I did not teach
superstitions,' said Honor.

'Not consciously,' said Owen. 'You meant to teach me dogmatically only
what you absolutely believed yourself. But you did not know how
boundless is a child's readiness to accept what comes as from a spiritual
authority, or you would have drawn the line more strongly between
doctrine and opinion, fact and allegory, the true and the edifying.'

'In effect, I treated you as the Romish Church began by doing to the
populace.'

'Exactly so. Like the mediaeval populace, I took legend for fact; and
like the modern populace, doubted of the whole together, instead of
sifting. There is my confession, Honor dear. I know you are happier for
hearing it in full; but remember, my errors are not chargeable upon you.
If I had ever been true towards myself or you, and acted out what I
thought I felt, I should have had the personal experience that would have
protected the truth when the pretty superstructure began to pass away.'

'What you have undertaken now is an acting out!'

'I hope it is. Therefore it is the first time that I have ever trusted
myself to be in earnest. And after all, Honor, though it is a terrible
past to look back on, it is so very pleasant to be coming _home_, and to
realize mercy and pardon, and hopes of doing better, that I can't feel
half the broken-down sorrow that perhaps ought to be mine. It won't stay
with me, when I have you before