Page:The silent prince - a story of the Netherlands (IA cu31924008716957).pdf/98

 Katharine La Tour looked at the wan, distressed face of her mother with pitying eyes.

“Of course I shall be discreet, mother. I am a nominal Catholic, and I have seen too much misery arising from marriages where the contracting parties were of different faiths to care to add to the number.”

“The law forbidding marriage between Catholics and Protestants is more rigorously enforced than it was when I married your father,” said Madame. “What troublous times I have lived through! And yet, although I had a Huguenot husband, and loved him devotedly, I remained true to the Church. I might just as well have turned Protestant for all the good it has done me. The Catholics have turned the cold shoulder to me, and I have spent the few hundred frances which were all that were saved from your father's estate in prosecuting a claim which is more than likely to be denied.”

“Be careful, mother. I fear your words may be overheard. For all that we know, we may be surrounded by spies.”

“But what will become of us, Katharine, if the law refuses to legitimate you? We have no home and no resources.”

These words were evidently a revelation to the girl, She flushed painfully. “Legitimate me, did you say, the child of Christian parents? Why, the marriage ceremony was performed by a noble