able to read the New Testament, they would still remain monkeys;
in fact, they would probably be greater monkeys than ever.' The
fact of such an expression being allowed to pass muster in once
pious London is an excellent sign of the times and of our progress
towards the pure Age of Reason. The name of Christ is no longer
one to conjure with."

A dead silence followed his words, and the peculiar stillness and
heaviness of the atmosphere struck him with a vague alarm. He
lifted his eyes,--the Princess Ziska met his gaze steadily, but
there was something in her aspect that moved him to wonderment and
a curious touch of terror. The delicate rose-tint of her cheeks
had faded to an ashy paleness, her lips were pressed together
tightly and her eyes seemed to have gained a vivid and angry
lustre which Medusa herself might have envied.

"Did you ever try to conjure with that name?" she asked.

"Never," he replied, forcing a smile and remonstrating with
himself for the inexplicable nature of his emotions.

She went on slowly:

"In my creed--for I have a creed--it is believed that those who
have never taken the sacred name of Christ to their hearts, as a
talisman of comfort and support, are left as it were in the vortex
of uncertainties, tossed to and fro among many whirling and mighty
forces, and haunted forever by the phantoms of their own evil
deeds. Till they learn and accept the truth of their marvellous
Redemption, they are the prey of wicked spirits who tempt and lead