He smiled.
"My dear sir," he replied at last; "to be frank with you, I really do not think I have any religion.

If I had, I suppose I should call myself a Christian, though, judging from the behavior of Christians in general, I cannot be one of them after all,--for I belong to no sect, I go to no church, and I have never read a tract in my life.

I have a profound reverence and admiration for the character and doctrine of Christ, and I believe if I had had the privilege of knowing and conversing with Him, I should not have deserted Him in extremity as his timorous disciples did.
I believe in an all-wise Creator; so you see I am not an atheist.

My mother was an Austrian and a Catholic, and I have a notion that, as a small child, I was brought up in that creed; but I'm afraid I don't know much about it now." The _bonde_ nodded gravely.

"Thelma, here," he said, "is a Catholic, as her mother was--" he stopped abruptly, and a deep shadow of pain darkened his features.