Page:Teleny, or The Reverse of the Medal, t. II.djvu/134

 against nature—is so deeply engrafted in our nature that reason can neither cool nor mask it. The Jesuits are, therefore, the only real priests. Far from damning you, like ranting Dissenters do, they have at least a thousand palliations for all the diseases which they cannot cure—a balm for every heavy-laden conscience.

"But to return to our story. When the young soldier was asked by the judge how he could thus degrade himself, and sully the uniform he wore,—'M. le Juge,' quoth he, ingenuously, 'the gentleman was very kind to me. Moreover, being a very influential person, he promised me un avancement dans le corps' (an advancement in the body)!

"Time passed, and I lived happily with Teleny—for who would not have been happy with him, handsome, good, and clever as he was? His playing now was so genial, so exuberant with lusty life, so beaming with sensual happiness, that he was daily becoming a greater favourite, and all the ladies were more than ever in love with him; but what did I care, was he not wholly mine?"

"What! you were not jealous?"