the bathers begin their day at half-past six. My day does not beg

the village bel

. Early Mass had not yet begun. The church seemed to me empty. But from a corner I heard the whispered mutter of a confession. Presently two people walked past me, the priest and the penitent, I surmised. Someone walked upstairs. A boy

whether I was a Catholic. I told him that Catholic churches attracted me, but that I was an agnostic. He seemed slight

ch attracted me, for of those I saw nothing. Nor was it the music, for although I was not a musician, my lon

if he was

for years I have not been pratiquant, u

nside a church for s

d, "inside a chu

their faith as young men

d, "I never lost my faith, no

didn't un

said. "But now they are not there a

what?"

ng those seven ye

when you liked," I said, "I

ld have liked not to believe. Many times I was envying people who feel you go out like a candle when you die. I am not mystique or anything like that; but something at the back of my mind is keeping on saying to me: 'You know it is true,' just as in some people there is something inside them which is keeping on saying: 'You know it is not true.' And yet I couldn't do otherwise. That is

, and could go to church whenever you liked, I cannot see wha

long a story," he said. "I will tell you some

the pavilion to drink the water. I asked

to forget it all. You know sometimes after illness you regret the maladie, and I am still a littl

into t

rning I met Pri

had not seen him, and had had no talk with him about

omeone I knew-and still know, I won't say her name. I don't want to rake up old scandals, but she was Russian, and she lived, a long tim

she divorce

nd she adored them, so did the father, and he would never have le

Rome, I may have

end was a charming person, a little vague, very ge

and still al

more, but in the Caucasus, and at Paris in the

anitski episode w

over," said Pri

" I a

Il n'a plus des yeux q

ch in love with

" she went on, "I saw him talking to him yesterday, with Mrs. Lenn

oticed she see

oks different. That child

if she looks for love in that quarter? He won'

. "One can have it over and over again, and the worse you have it once, the

n the same position. They were

what will ma

a marriage between them, such as money. Princess Kou

he said. "He is a Catholic, but I do no

I think, look upon it as a kind of obstacle; but a little more an obstacle

that Mrs. Lennox would like

ed nothing will stop them. Tha

e?" I

ot some c

r person mind-t

rried at once. He would have been an excellent husband for almost anyone else except for her, and if she had only waited two years she would have known this herself. As it was, she married him, and found she had married someone else. The inevitable happened. She is far too sensible to complain now. She knows

g man who was engaged to

s the Russian couple I told you of were before they were married, only Jean had the good fortune to do nothing in a hur

ng man," I said. "We k

know. If there were something to know we should know it by now. It was all

y might just as well be true. I did not think Miss Brandon was a person who would change her mind in a hurry. I though

his, Princess Kou

seat near the music kiosk. They are talking hard. The lamp is being lit-she