"My dear neighbor," said De Beuvre to Bois-Doré, "you must not be offended with me. Your plan for these children was pure dreaming. See on what excellent terms they are in those innocent games! That is a sign that in the game of love they would be always at war. Remember that a too young husband is not long content with a single wife, and that a deserted wife is jealous and shrewish. Moreover there is another obstacle between the children, which we have not considered: one is a Catholic, the other a Protestant."
"That is not an obstacle," said the marquis. "They can be married at the same church, reserving the right to return to the one they prefer."
"Oh! yes, that is all very well for you, you old unbeliever, who belong to both churches, that is to say, to neither; but for us——"
"For you, neighbor? I don't know to what communion you belong; but I believe implicitly in God, and you don't believe in Him at all."
"Perhaps! Who can say?" as Montaigne says; "but my daughter is a believer, and you cannot induce her to give way."
"She would not have to give way. Here, she was always free to pray as she chose. Mario and she used to say their evening prayer together, and they never thought of disputing. Besides, Mario would be all ready to do as I did."
"Yes, to say as you did in the days of the good king: 'Long live Sully and long live the pope!'"
"Lauriane would be no more obstinate in her Calvinism, be sure of that!"
Bois-Doré was mistaken. The more frankly De Beuvre avowed his scepticism, the more earnest was Lauriane in her disinterested attachment to the Reformation. De Beuvre, who knew it well and who was seeking an opportunity to create obstacles, raised the question during dinner. Lauriane stated her views in mild language, but with remarkable firmness.
The marquis had never discussed religion with her or before her. In fact, he never discussed it with anyone, and found the half-Gallic, half-pagan divinities of Astrée quite reconcilable with his vague notions concerning the Deity. He was distressed to see Lauriane take up the cudgels in that way, and he could not resist the temptation to say to her: