nnot help it," she said; "well, it really was
a most extraordinary statement, I confess. But, my dear Charlie, you
are not afraid that he will carry you off against your will, and marry
you to some fair lady before you know where you are?"

"Don't talk in that way, Mary," said Charles; "I can't bear a joke just
now. I mean, Carlton is so sensible a man, and takes so just a view of
things, that the conviction flashed on my mind, that the Church of
England really was what he implied it to be--a form of religion very
unlike that of the Apostles."

This sobered Mary indeed. "Alas," she said, "we have got upon very
different ground now; not what our Church thinks of you, but what you
think of our Church." There was a pause. "I thought this was at the
bottom," she said; "I never could believe that a parcel of people, some
of whom you cared nothing for, telling you that you were not in your
place, would make you think so, unless you first felt it yourself.
That's the real truth; and then you interpret what others say in your
own way." Another uncomfortable pause. Then she continued: "I see how it
will be. When you take up a thing, Charles, I know well you don't lay it
down. No, you have made up your mind already. We shall see you a Roman
Catholic."

"Do _you_ then bear witness against me, Mary, as well as the rest?" said
he sorrowfully.

She saw her mistake. "No," she answered; "all I say is, that it rests
with yourself, not with others. _If_ you have made up your mind, there's
no help for it. It is not others who drive you, who bear witness against
you. Dear Charles, don't mistake me, and don't deceive yourself. You
have a strong _will_."

At this moment Caroline entered the room. "I could not think where you
were, Mary," she said; "here Perkins has been crying after you ever so
long. It's something about dinner; I don't know what. We have hunted
high and low, and never guessed you were helping Charles at his books."
Mary gave a deep sigh, and left the room.

CHAPTER XIII.

Neither to brother nor to sister had the conversation been a
satisfaction or relief. "I can go nowhere for sympathy," thought
Charles; "dear Mary does not understand me more than others. I can't
bring out what I mean and feel; and when I attempt to do so, my
statements and arguments seem absurd to myself. It has been a great
effort to tell her; and in one sense it is a gain, for it is a trial
over. Else I have taken nothing by my move, and