In the opening chapter of his polemic he had cited from Voltaire's works, especially from the famous _Pucelle_, a number of passages that seemed peculiarly well-fitted to justify the charge of atheism.

Thanks to his unfailing memory, he was able to repeat these citations verbatim, and to marshal his own counter-arguments.

But in Marcolina he had to cope with an opponent who was little inferior to himself in extent of knowledge and mental acumen; and who, moreover, excelled him, not perhaps in fluency of speech, but at any rate in artistry of presentation and clarity of expression.

The passages Casanova had selected as demonstrating Voltaire's spirit of mockery, his scepticism, and his atheism, were adroitly interpreted by Marcolina as testifying to the Frenchman's scientific genius, to his skill as an author, and to his indefatigable ardor in the search for truth.

She boldly contended that doubt, mockery, nay unbelief itself, if associated with such a wealth of knowledge, such absolute honesty, and such high courage, must be more pleasing to God than the humility of the pious, which was apt to be a mask for lack of capacity to think logically, and often enough--there were plenty of examples--a mask for cowardice and hypocrisy.
Casanova listened with growing astonishment.