THE WOMAN AND HER CONSCIENCE "For Hugh ?" said the Prioress.

And then again, in low tones of incredulous amazement, "For Hugh! What know you of Hugh, my lord ?" The Bishop looked steadfastly at the Prioress, and replied with exceeding gravity and earnestness: "I know that in breaking your solemn troth to him, you are breaking a very noble heart; and that in leaving his home desolate, you are robbing him not only of his happiness but also of his faith.

Men are apt to rate our holy religion, not by its theories, but by the way in which it causeth us to act in our dealings with them.

If you condemn Hugh to sit beside his hearth, through the long years, a lonely, childless man, you take the Madonna from his home; if you take your love from him, I greatly fear lest you should also rob him of his belief in the love of God.

I do not say that these things should be so; I say that we must face the fact that thus they are.