He said nothing more, but as the carriage swept around a corner and carried them in front of it, he looked toward the church and lifted his hat.
This act of reverence would probably have had no meaning to Mrs. Singleton, but Marion had lived too long with Catholics not to understand it. "Oh!" she exclaimed, involuntarily, with an accent of surprise; adding, when Earle looked at her, "is it possible you are a Catholic!"
He smiled. "Does that astonish you?" he asked. "There are a good many of them in the world."
"A Catholic!" repeated Mrs. Singleton, incredulously. "What nonsense!—Of course he is not—at least not a Roman Catholic!"
"Pardon me," he answered, still smiling, "but that is exactly what I am—a Roman Catholic. For that is the only kind of Catholic which it is worth any one's while to be."
CHAPTER XV.
"Oh, you must be mistaken, Anna!" said Tom Singleton, with his easy good-nature. "Brian could not have told you in earnest that he is a Catholic. The thing is absurd."
"Ask him for yourself, then," answered Mrs. Singleton. "You will soon discover whether or not he is in earnest."
"I can not say that I feel interested in his religious opinions, so why should I ask him?"