"My church is the altar of Christ and the house of God," replied Gabriella, simply. "And so is any other church." That was all the logic she had and all the faith she needed; beyond that limit she did not even think. "And you believe in THEM ALL?" he asked with wondering admiration. "I believe in them all." "Once I did also," observed David, reverently and with new reverence for her. "What I regret is that you should have thrown away your religion on account of your difficulties with theology. Nothing more awful could have befallen you than that." "It was the churches that made the difficulties," said David, "I did not. But there is more than theology in it. You do not know what I think about religions--revelations--inspirations--man's place in nature." "What DO you think?" she asked eagerly. "I suppose now I shall hear something about those great books." She put herself at ease in her chair like one who prepares to listen quietly. "Shall I tell you how the whole argument runs as I have arranged it? I shall have to begin far away and come down to the subject by degrees." He looked apologetic. "Tell me everything; I have been waiting a long time." David reflected a few moments and then began:-- "The first of my books as I have arranged them, considers what we call the physical universe as a whole--our heavens--the stars--and discusses the little that man knows about it. I used to think the earth was the centre of this universe, the most important world in it, on account of Man. That is what the ancient Hebrews thought. In this room float millions of dust-particles too small to be seen by us. To say that the universe is made for the sake of the earth would be something like saying that the earth was created for the sake of one of these particles of its own dust." He paused to see how she received this. "That ought to be a great book," she said approvingly. "I should like to study it." "The second takes up that small part of the universe which we call our solar system and sums up the little we have learned regarding it. I used to think the earth the most important part of the solar system, on account of Man. So the earliest natural philosophers believed. That is like believing that the American continent was created for the sake, say, of my father's farm." He awaited her comment. "That should be a great book," she said simply. "Some day let me see THAT." "The third detaches for study one small planet of that system--our earth--and reviews our latest knowledge of that: as to how it has been evolved into its present stage of existence through other stages requiring unknown millions and millions and millions of years. Once I thought it was created in six days. So it is written. Do you believe that?" There was silence. "What is the next book?" she asked.