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“How you do talk!” exclaimed Clara. “Do you expect to keep up such lecturing all our lives? If you do, we may as well—”

“May as well what?” asked Ernest with a sinking heart.

“May as well follow divergent paths,” she said with a timidity which implied that she, by no means, desired the proposition to be accepted.

“No, my dear Clara, I shall not mention it again if it is unpleasant to you. I shall leave you in the hands of God and continue to pray for you. I think you will take a different view of the matter after a while.”

“But I would as soon you would talk to me as to look at me as if I were a criminal.”

“I do not think,” said Ernest, “that religion will convert me into a long-faced monk. On the contrary, I expect to be more cheerful and happy than I could be otherwise. You are the one to look solemn and gloomy.”

“You expect,” said Clara, not appearing to notice the last remark, “you expect to give up dancing, as most church people do.”

“Certainly. I cannot do violence to my conscience by indulging in an amusement which I regard as of doubtful propriety, to say the least of it.”