"Yes," said Mrs. Godfrey, "but not as a punishment; it is as a source of attraction, of interest, that I wish you to cultivate literary tastes." "I cannot feel interest, madam, in that which will unfit me for my duty." "Unfit you for your duty! what do you mean?" "Pray, madam, pardon me; I, of course, defer to you." "I want no deference, child, save what your reason gives. Explain your meaning." "I only mean, dear madam, that too much refinement and elegance might make us forget our inherent weakness; teach us to set too high a value on exterior accomplishments, and to forget the tendency to sin ever abiding within us." "The girl is raving! Now, Euphrasie, do you honestly believe in the corruption of your heart?" {35} "I know I am prone to evil in many ways, and that I must keep a constant watch over all my dispositions. I suppose I do not know the extent of evil in my own heart--that were a rare grace, vouchsafed to few--but I see nothing in myself to lead me to suppose that I am naturally better than the men who murdered my father." "Do you feel disposed to murder, then?" "No; but the very indignation I often feel at their crimes teaches me not to trust myself. Did we give way to our passions, and had we power, who can tell what we should do? Nero showed good dispositions when he began his reign. Alfred the Great was a licentious youth till Almighty God chastened him by adversity, and humbled him through life by inflicting him with an incurable disease, which kept him ever mindful of his former delinquencies." "Do yon think that disease was a good to Alfred?" "Decidedly; it helped to keep him mindful of the ever-present Deity whom his former life had offended, and probably prevented his relapsing into sin." "You foolish child! his disease was probably occasioned by the hardships he had undergone during his campaign; it was the natural consequence to damp and wet and bad living. You must study science, Euphrasie; that will rid you of all these foolish notions." "I will study what you please, madam," replied Euphrasie. But Mrs. Godfrey's endeavors to make her young _protégé_ comprehend results as _inevitable_ signally failed, to her own great astonishment. The girl pursued easily and willingly the course of study marked out for her; was somewhat amused by chemical and other experiments, but could never be brought to declare them necessary results in the absolute sense. "The action of the same spirit that established these relationships" said she "might at will disturb them; even as the chemical relationship between two substances is disturbed by the presence of a third substance more potent in its affinities." "What, then, is a natural law?" demanded Mrs. Godfrey. "A natural law," replied Euphrasie, "is the ordinary mode in which Divine Providence causes one portion of insentient matter to act on another portion of insentient matter." Her instructor would object to this. "Nay, but there are natural laws affecting mind also."