tirely natural; there was not a tremor or a falter in
it. Mr. Francis smiled genially, rubbing his hands softly together.

"Ah!" he said. "Yes, I see.... Well, that is a very large question.
Would not to-morrow, perhaps---?"

"I only want just the shortest answer," she said. "It is really
important for me to know at once. You see, this new law comes into
force---"

He nodded.

"Well--very briefly, I should say this: Catholics say that God can be
perceived by reason; that from the arrangements of the world they can
deduce that there must have been an Arranger--a Mind, you understand.
Then they say that they deduce other things about God--that He is Love,
for example, because of happiness---"

"And the pain?" she interrupted.

He smiled again.

"Yes. That is the point--that is the weak point."

"But what do they say about that?"

"Well, briefly, they say that pain is the result of sin---"

"And sin? You see, I know nothing at all, Mr. Francis."

"Well, sin is the rebellion of man's will against God's."

"What do they mean by that?"

"Well, you see, they say that God wanted to be loved by His creatures,
so He made them free; otherwise they could not really love. But if they
were free, it means that they could if they liked refuse to love and
obey God; and that is what is called Sin. You see what nonsense---"

She jerked her head a little.

"Yes, yes," she said. "But I really want to get at what they think....
Well, then, that is all?"

Mr. Francis pursed his lips.

"Scarcely," he said; "that is hardly more than what they call Natural
Religion. Catholics believe much more than that."

"Well?"

"My dear Mrs. Brand, it is impossible to put it in a few words. But, in
brief, they believe that God became man--that Jesus was God, and that He
did this in order to save them from sin by dying---"

"By bearing pain, you mean?"

"Yes; by dying. Well, what they call the Incarnation is really the
point. Everything else flows from that. And, once a man believes that, I
must confess that all the rest follows--even down to scapulars and holy
water."

"Mr. Francis, I don't understand a word you're saying."

He smiled indulgently.

"Of course not," he said; "it is all incredible nonsense. But, you know,
I did really believe it all once."

"But it's unreasonable," she said.

He made a little demurring sound.

"Yes," he said, "in one sense, of course it is--utterly unreasonable.
But in another sense---"