“What I said about the Bible?” replied his brother. “Well, it was a thoughtless observation, I own; but I certainly never intended to pain you. Your good lady came down upon me so sharp, and gave me such an oratorical cudgelling, that even Ida herself must have confessed that the punishment exceeded the offence.”
“Augustine, this is no jesting matter,” said his brother.
“I own that I was indiscreet and wrong in talking after that fashion in presence of the girls. Are you not satisfied with that frank confession?”
“I am not satisfied; I cannot be satisfied while I remain in doubt as to whether those careless words did not really express the opinion of my brother. Ever since you have been here on this visit, Augustine, it has seemed to me as if a change had passed over you; you are no longer what you once were. There is not the frank interchange of thought between us that there used to be in former years.”
“I am no longer a boy,” replied Augustine, leaning carelessly back in his chair.
“When you were a boy,” continued Mr. Aumerle, “you used often to express to me your desire to enter the ministry.”
“Oh, that’s all over,” replied Augustine quickly; “my views on many points have changed. I have discovered that there are many paths open to speculative thought besides the dry beaten one which you and all the pious world have been content for generations to tread.”
“There is nothing,” murmured Pride, “so hateful to an exalted spirit as travelling in a crowd.”
“Is it well,” said Aumerle, “to wander from the narrow path, in which so many have found happiness in life, and peace in death?”