pirit of darkness."

"Your admiration for the monks is indeed a great curiosity," said
Frank, smiling. "Sybel's congenial friend a eulogist of the monks! That
indeed is as strange as a square circle."

"If I admire the splendor of heathenism, must I not also admire the
fascinating, still depth of Christian childhood? In heathenism as well
as in Christianity human genius accomplishes great and sublime things."

"That, in its whole extent, I must dispute," said Frank. "Where is the
splendor and greatness of heathenism? The heathen built palaces of
great magnificence, but crime stalked naked about in them. When the
lord of the palace killed his slaves for his amusement, there was no
law to condemn him. When lords and ladies at their epicurean feasts
would step aside into small apartments, there by artificial means to
empty their gorged stomachs, they did not offend either against heathen
decency or its law of moderation. The marble columns proudly supported
gilded arches; but when beneath those arches a human victim bled under
the knife of the priests, this was in harmony with the genius of
heathenism. The amphitheatres were immense halls, full of art and
magnificence, in which a hundred thousand spectators could sit and
behold with delight the lions and tigers devour slaves, or the
gladiators slaughtering each other for their amusement. No. True
greatness and real splendor I do not find in heathenism. Where heathen
greatness is, there terrible darkness, profound error, and horrible
customs abound. Christianity had to contend for three hundred years to
destroy the abominations of heathenism."

"I will not dispute about it now," said Lutz. "You shall not destroy by
your criticism the beautiful impressions of my excursion. I also met
the Swedes on my tour. About thirty miles from here there is, among the
hills, a valley. The peasants call the place the 'murder-chamber.' I
suspected that the name might be associated with some historical event,
and, on inquiry, I found such to be the case. In the Thirty Years' War,
when Gustavus Adolphus, the pious hero, passed through the German
provinces murdering and robbing, the inhabitants of the neighborhood
fled with their wives, children, and property to this remote valley.
They imagined themselves hid in these woods and defiles from the
wandering Swedes, but they deceived themselves. Their hiding-place
was discovered, and every living thing--Cows, calves, and oxen
excepted--was pu