Louise was not a little shocked at the remarks made by her mother. She loved Adolph, and she knew well enough that he did not frequent the church, though she had never heard him ridicule religion, his respect for her and her religious habits would have prevented that outrage. But she could not shut her eyes to the fact that Adolph lived _out_ of the influences of her church, and she knew well that her mother would never consent to her union with such a man. She mingled the subject in her prayers before she sought her bed, and gave the whole night to the anxiety which it caused. Next day Louise opened her heart to Adolph, by expressing her fears that he had neglected the duties of his religion. Adolph sought to evade the matter by some playful remarks, but he discovered that Louise was more than usually in earnest. “Your mother is in this,” said he. “She is—and she adds, that I shall never marry a man who neglects the requirements of religion.” “Why, is she going to make a priest of me?” “I hope not,” said Louise; “for in that case we should be further from our marriage than we now are.” “What does she require?” “She requires that you forbear, in the first place, any remarks against religion; and secondly, that you frequent the church, at least.” “I will do that to please her and you, at any rate,” said he. “You will do it from a higher motive, I hope,” said she. The result of the conference between Louise and Adolph was the promise on his part to be constant at church on all holydays, and to forbear any remarks which could be construed into a disrespect for religion and its ministers. Louise retired gratified at what she had gained, but not without some sense of the unworthiness of the motives of her lover, and with many doubts whether she ought to depend on such a shallow change. Adolph loved Louise—he promised readily—but he smiled in his heart at her seeming confidence. The truth was Adolph _had_ ridiculed religion; not so much from any doubts of its truth, or any conclusions to which he had been led by argument, as by the necessity of improper association, the power of that state of mind that builds up skepticism as a sort of retreat from the stings of conscience. The moral principal of Adolph had suffered much from his associations. It was a source of much gratification to Louise that Adolph kept his word—and Madam Berien could not deny that he was punctual in his attendance at the church, if not exceedingly edifying in his deportment. This brought Adolph more within the influence of Madam Berien’s family, and that influence could not fail of being beneficial; he certainly was saved from much wrong if he was not influenced to do a great deal of what was right.