“That is where I studied. It is a long time ago now. I am much older than either of you. In a week I shall be fifty-six!” “And so Madame Péchin really insists on being immortal?” asked M. Bergeret. “She is convinced that she is immortal,” answered the doctor. “If you told her that she was not, she would take a dislike to you, and disbelieve you all the same.” “And the idea of having to go on for ever amid the universal passing of things does not astonish her? She does not tire of nourishing such exaggerated hopes? Perhaps she has not given much thought to the nature of man and the conditions of life?” “What does that matter?” replied the doctor. “I cannot understand your surprise, my dear M. Bergeret. This good lady is a religious woman; religion, indeed, is her only possession. Having been born in a Catholic country, she is a Catholic, and she believes what she has been taught. It’s only nature!” “Doctor, you are talking like Zaïre,” said M. Bergeret---- “Had I lived on the banks of the Ganges. Besides, the belief in immortality is common in Europe, America, and a part of Asia; it spreads in Africa with the wearing of clothes.” “So much the better,” replied the doctor, “for it is necessary to civilization. Without it the unfortunate would never resign themselves to their fate.” “Yet,” retorted M. Bergeret, “the Chinese coolies work for paltry wages. They are patient and resigned, and they are not spiritualists.” “That is because they are yellow,” replied the doctor. “The white races have far less resignation. They have conceived an ideal of justice, and formed great hopes. General Cartier de Chalmot is quite right in saying that belief in a future life is necessary to an army. It is also very useful with regard to social intercourse; people would be worse than they are but for the fear of hell.” “Doctor,” demanded M. Bergeret, “do you believe you will rise again?” “It’s different for me,” replied the doctor. “I do not find it necessary to believe in God in order to be an honest man. As a scientist I know nothing; as a citizen I believe everything. I am a Catholic by policy, and consider that religious belief is essentially an improving element that helps to humanize the masses.”