"`_Non fades tibi sculptile, neque omnem similitudinem_,'" murmured Bruno, reflectively. "I think, my child, that it depends very much on the meaning of `_tibi_' Ah, I see in thy face thou hast learned no Latin. `Thou shalt not make _to thee_ any sculptured image.' Then a sculptured image may be made otherwise. The latter half of the commandment, I think, shows what is meant. `_Non adorabis ea, neque coles_'--`thou shalt not worship them.' At the same time, Saint Paul saith, `_Omne autem, quod non est ex fide, peccatum est_'--`all that is not of faith is sin;' and `_nisi ei qui existimat quid commune esse, illi commune est_': namely, `to him who esteemeth a thing unclean, to him it is unclean.' If thou really believest it sin, by no means allow thyself to do it." "But, Father, suppose we cannot be sure?" said Doucebelle. "Thou needst not fear that thou wilt ever walk _too_ close to Christ, daughter," quietly answered Bruno. "But, Father I are we bound to give up all that can possibly be sin, or even can become sin?" asked Eva, in a tone which decidedly indicated dissent. "I should like to hear thy objection, daughter." "Why, we should have to give up every thing nice!" said Eva, disconsolately. "There are all sorts of delightful things, which are not exactly sins, but--" "Not quite virtues," interposed Beatrice, with an amused expression, as Eva paused. "Well, no. Still they are not wrong--in themselves. But they make one waste one's time, or forget to say one's beads, or be cross to one's sister,--just because they are so delightful, and one does not want to give over. And being cross is sin, I suppose; and so it is when one forgets to say one's prayers: I don't know whether wasting time is exactly a sin." "I see," said Bruno, in the same quiet tone. "Had our Lord sent thee to clear His Temple of the profane who desecrated it by traffic, thou wouldst have overthrown the tables of the money-changers, but not the seats of them that sold doves." Beatrice and Doucebelle answered by a smile of intelligence; Eva looked rather dissatisfied. "But it is not a sin to be happy, Father?" asked Margaret in a low voice. "Not if God give thee the happiness." "That is just it!" said Eva, discontentedly. "How is one to know?" "My child," answered Bruno, ignoring the tone, "God never means His children to put any thing into the place of Himself. The moment thou dost that, that thing is sin to thee." "But when do we do that, Father?" asked Doucebelle. "When it makes thee forget to say thy prayers, I should think," drily observed Beatrice. "When it comes in the way between Him and thee," said Bruno. "And is it a sin to waste time, Father?" queried Eva. "It is a sin to waste any thing," answered Bruno. "But if it be more a sin to waste one thing than another, surely it is to waste life itself." He rose and went away. Eva shrugged her shoulders with a wry face.