'But they must never know. You promise me, Kitty. ... I am grateful to you for what you have said in my excuse. I daresay the Austin girls do kiss young men, but because they do so it does not follow that it is right. No girl should kiss a man unless she intends to marry him.' 'But,' said Kitty, laughing, 'if he kisses her by force what is she to do?' For she failed to perceive that to snatch a kiss was as important as John seemed to think. But he told her that she must not laugh, that she must try to forgive him. 'It is unpardonable,' he said, 'for I cannot marry you. We are not of the same religion....' 'But you don't want to marry me, John--to marry just because you kissed me! People kiss every year under the mistletoe but they don't marry each other.' 'It is as you like, Kitty.' But forced on by his conscience, he said: 'We might obtain a dispensation.... You know nothing of our Church; if you did, you might become a convert. I wish you would consider the question. It is so simple; we surrender our own wretched understanding, and are content to accept the Church as wiser than we. Once man throws off restraint there is no happiness, there is only misery. One step leads to another; if he would be logical he must go on, and before long, for the descent is very rapid indeed, he finds himself in an abyss of darkness and doubt, a terrible abyss indeed, where nothing exists, and life has lost all meaning. The Reformation was the thin end of the wedge, it was the first denial of authority, and you see what it has led to--modern scepticism and modern pessimism.' 'I don't know what that means, but I heard Mrs. Norton say you were a pessimist.' 'I was; but I saw in time where it was leading me, and I crushed it out. I used to be a Republican too, but I saw what liberty meant, and what were its results, and I gave it up.' 'So you gave up all your ideas for Catholicism....' John hesitated, he seemed a little startled, but he answered, 'I would give up anything for my Church....' 'And did it cost you much to give up your ideas?' 'Yes; I have suffered. But now I am happy, and my happiness would be complete if God would grant you grace to believe....' 'But I do believe. I believe in our Lord Jesus who died to save us. Is not that enough?' There was no wind on the down. And still as a reflection in a glass the grey barren land rolled through the twilight. Beyond it the circling sea and the girl's figure distinct on a golden hour. John watched a moment, and then hastened homeward. He was overpowered by fear of the future; he trembled with anticipation, and prayed that accident might lead him out of the difficulty into which a chance moment had betrayed him. X. When she rose from the ground she saw a tall, gaunt figure passing away like a shadow.