From Positivism she found her way into Unitarianism, and with her usual craving for some great teacher whom she delighted to honour, she made Ralph Waldo Emerson—or rather his writings—her oracle. It was somewhat curious that Patricia’s religion always concentrated itself around some _person_, yet she did not seek to render her homage to a personal God. Her only experience of Christianity other than Romanism was the stern Evangelicism of her old nurse, and this creed, with its narrow interpretations and material heaven, she found equally as repellent as the former. Although not lacking in spiritual perception, she had not yet rightly understood the divine personality of the Incarnate Deity; she admired Christ, it is true, but in the same way she admired Gautama—the founder of Buddhism—and Confucius. To her, the heaven of the Christian and the Nirvana of the Buddhist were almost synonymous terms; and the gospel of right living the only one that was necessary. So that when her lover suggested with much diffidence that she should become a member of his own faith, she did not meet his proposal with the firm refusal he had anticipated. They were sitting under the trees in one of the quietest spots in Kensington Gardens, glad to escape for the moment from the din and roar of the traffic. Although late autumn, the air was mild and dry, and Patricia allowed her sables to fall from her shoulders and to rest on the back of the chair. She listened to her lover’s words with animation in her face, and wonder in her eyes; she could not make an immediate reply. “The idea is so curious, so difficult to grasp,” she said, when he had finished. “Judaism seems so formidable to the uninitiated. I am afraid I should break the laws a hundred times a day.” “I do not think you would. Judaism does not demand so much from a woman as from a man. All a Jewess has to do is to see that her mènage is ordered in accordance with Jewish law, and to bring up her children in the Jewish faith. More will not be expected of you than that; and as we can have a Jewish housekeeper, you need not be worried with the details of the dietary and other laws.” “But what of my own personal religion?” “As long as you keep to Theism—the absolute Unity—you can believe what you please,” Montella replied. “So you see your Judaism need not be so difficult after all.” Patricia’s eyes waxed thoughtful. “You must give me a few days to think it over,” she said, after a short pause. “You are not in a hurry, dear?” “Not at all. I promised the mater I would ask you. She is such an enthusiastic Jewess.” “Yes; I admire her for it. It is a wonder she does not live in the Holy Land.” Lionel smiled. “I really believe she would, if Palestine were a Jewish country,” he replied. “She cherishes a grudge against the Sultan for shilly-shallying over the affair all these years. She is, like myself, an ardent Zionist.”