“Alas! lacking the reality we console ourselves with make-belief.[99] I will not conceal from thee that I love my young boarder. ‘Tis an innocent passion, and keepeth my mind calm. Her caresses quench the flame which would otherwise kill me.”[100]
“And doth not thy conscience suffer?”
“I feel no distress in the matter.”
“But thou dost know ‘tis a sin?”
“I confess it.”
“And what sayeth the confessor?”
“Naught. He absolveth me, and I am happy.”
“And doth thy pretty boarder confess also?”
“Assuredly; but she telleth not the father of a matter which she doth not believe a sin.”
“I wonder that the confessor hath not taught her, for that species of instruction is a great pleasure.”