Page:The Way of a Virgin.djvu/71

Rh of all fear. These little "purses," the use of which I explained to them, excited their admiration, and Hedvige said to her cousin that she would give thought to the matter. Become intimate friends and in good case to become even better, we took our way toward the house, where we found Helène's mother and the minister walking by the edge of the lake. ……

''Follows now the description of a dinner at which Casanova, Hedvige and Helène are present. The text continues:''

Helène shone in solving the questions put to her by the company. M. de Ximenes begged her to justify as best she might our first mother, who had deceived her husband by causing him to eat the fatal apple.

"Eve," quoth she, "deceived not her husband; she did but cajole him into eating it in the hope of giving him one more perfection. Moreover, Eve had not received the prohibition from God but from Adam; in her act there was seduction, not deceit; in all probability her womanly sense did not let her regard the prohibition as serious."……

……Another lady then asked her if one might believe the history of the apple to be symbolical. Hedvige answered:

"I think not, since it could only be a symbol of sexual union, and 'tis established that such was not consummated 'twixt Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden."

"On this point the learned differ."