"Because my brother-in-law is a Catholic, and I am a Protestant, and I should like to know what to believe." "_Signorina,_" Benedetto answered, "the day will come when all shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, upon the hilltops; to-day it is best to worship Him in the shadows, in figures, from deep Valleys.
Many there are who can rise, some higher than others, towards the spirit and the truth; but many cannot.

There are plants which bear no fruit above a certain altitude, and if carried still higher, they die.

It would be folly to remove them from the climate which suits them.

I do not know you, and I cannot say if your brother-in-law's religious views, planted without preparation in you, would bear good fruit.

But I advise you to study Catholicism carefully, with Signor Selva's help; for there is not one conscientious Protestant who knows it well." "You will not come to Subiaco ?" Noemi inquired timidly.
A note of hidden melancholy rang in her voice, and aroused in Benedetto's heart a sense of sweet pain, which at once turned to fear, so new was it.
"No," said he, "I think not." Noemi wished, and still did not wish to say she was sorry.