Page:The silent prince - a story of the Netherlands (IA cu31924008716957).pdf/104

 know is whether Mademoiselle is anything more than a nominal Catholic.”

The Superior watched the young lady keenly while he was speaking. Quick to read faces and to form correct judgments, her look of terror and her extreme pallor convinced him that he was on the verge of a discovery. Fixing his searching eyes on her face, he said: “My child, tell me frankly what is your spiritual condition. I know that you are incapable of either falsehood or deceit.”

The young girl felt the powerful personality of the Superior, and her lips framed almost unconsciously the statement which he had requested her to make.

“Your reverence, you have judged correctly. I shall speak only the simple truth.” Then gathering courage the girl stated her position with dignity and candor.

“I am, your reverence, at heart neither a Catholic nor a Protestant. The freedom to choose some religious belief was left in my hands, My father insisted that until I arrived at maturity I was not to be unduly biased in favor of either the Huguenot faith or the Roman Catholic religion. I attended mass with my mother and went to confession, My confessor was not strict, and he allowed me to come up without any definite instruction as to the fundamental beliefs of his faith. I am in the deplorable condition of a person who does not know his own