"I include those of the Reformation. The bloodiest history of this place is its history since the Reformation. The source of its horrors was religion, always religion."
"For which reason," retorted Leonard, "you would blame religion, rather than the men who made it a cloak to ambition."
"One asks: What is religion?" said Natalie. "Catholics say of Frederick, who reigned here, that he was led by ambition to his fall; Protestants, that he fell a glorious sacrifice in the cause of truth. Who shall judge?"
"False ideas of duty lead to perdition," said Leonard sententiously.
"Which would seem to demonstrate that Frederick was in the wrong," observed Mark. "That may be so, but it hardly lies in the mouth of a student of Hampton."
"Of course, I know that Frederick was the Protestant champion," said Leonard, annoyed; "but——"
"Yet he lost his cause! How can one know—how do you know the truth?" The girl looked up with an eager expression as she asked the question.
"I know because I feel it," he answered in a low tone. They were solemn words to him, and as he uttered them a longing to show truth to this fair maid arose within him.
"And if one does not know, one cannot feel," murmured Natalie sadly. "Catholics, Jews, Protestants, all feel and all know——"
"That the others are all wrong," interjected Mark.