u 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



whenever the professor asked her why, she al- 

 ways told him she was thinking of " an intelligent 

 First Cause," a conception which she said " was 

 really quite killing." But, when her first burst 

 of intellectual excitement was over, she became 

 more serious. " All thought, Paul," she said, " is 

 valuable mainly because it leads to action. Come, 

 my love, my dove, my beauty, and let us kiss 

 each other all day long. Let us enjoy the charm- 

 ing license which exact thought 6hows us we 

 shall never be punished for." 



This was a result of freedom that the profess- 

 or had never bargained for. He could not un- 

 derstand it ; " because," he argued, " if people 

 were to reason in that way, morality would at 

 once cease to be possible." But he had seen so 

 much of the world lately, that he soon recovered 

 himself; and, recollecting that immorality was 

 only ignorance, he began to show Virginia where 

 ber error lay — her one remaining error. "I per- 

 ceive," he said, " that you are ignorant of one of 

 the greatest triumphs of exact thought — the dis- 

 tinction it has established between the lower and 

 the highed pleasures. Philosophers, who have 

 thought the whole thing over iu their studies, 

 have become sure that as soon as the latter are 

 presented to men they will at once leave all and 

 follow them." 



" They must be very nice pleasures," said Vir- 

 ginia, " if they would make me leave kissing you 

 for the sake of them." 



" They are nice," said the professor. " They 

 are the pleasures of the imagination, the intellect, 

 and the glorious apprehension of truth. Com- 

 pared with these, kissing me would be quite in- 

 sipid. Remain here for a moment, while I go to 

 fetch something; and you shall then begin to 

 taste them." 



In a few moments Paul came back again, and 

 found Virginia in a state of intense expectancy. 



" Now — " he exclaimed, triumphantly. 



" Now — " exclaimed Virginia, with a beating 

 heart. 



The professor put his hand in his pocket, and 

 drew slowly forth from it an object which Vir- 

 ginia knew well. It reminded her of the most 

 innocent period of her life ; but she hated the 

 very sight of it none the less. It was a Colenso's 

 Arithmetic. 



"Come," said the professor, "no truths are 

 so pure and necessary as those of mathematics ; 

 you shall at once begin the glorious apprehension 

 of them." 



"0 Paul," cried Virginia, in an agony, "but 

 I really don't care for truth at all ; and you know 



that, when I broke your tin box open and read 

 your private letters in my search for it, you were 

 very angry with me." 



"Ah," said Paul, holding up his finger, "but 

 those were not necessary truths. Truths about 

 human action and character are not necessary 

 truths ; therefore men of science care nothing 

 about them, and they have no place in scientific 

 systems of ethics. Pure truths are of a very dif- 

 ferent character ; and, however much you may 

 misunderstand your own inclinations, you can 

 really care for nothing so much as doing a few 

 sums. I will set you some very easy ones to be- 

 gin with; and you shall do them by yourself, 

 while I magnify in the next room the parasites 

 of the missing link." 



Virginia saw that there was no help for it. 

 She did her sums by herself the whole morning, 

 which, as at school she had been very good at 

 arithmetic, was not a hard task for her ; and Paul 

 magnified parasites in the next room, and prepared 

 slides for his microscope. 



When they met again, Paul began skipping 

 and dancing, as if he had gone quite out of his 

 senses ; and every now and then, between the 

 skips, he gave a sepulchral groan. Virginia asked 

 him, in astonishment, what on earth was the mat- 

 ter with him. 



" Matter ! " he exclaimed. " Why, Humanity 

 is at last perfect ! All the evils of existence are 

 removed ; we neither of us believe iu a God or a 

 celestial future ; and we are both in full enjoy- 

 ment of the higher pleasures, and the apprehen- 

 sion of scientific truth. And therefore I skip be- 

 cause humanity is so unspeakably happy ; and I 

 groan because it is so unspeakably solemn." 



" Alas, alas ! " cried Virginia, " and would not 

 you like to kiss me ? " 



" No," said the professor, sternly, " and you 

 would not like me to kiss you. It is impossible 

 that one-half of Humanity should prefer the pleas- 

 ure of unlawful love to the pleasure of finding 

 out scientific truths." 



" But," pleaded Virginia, " cannot we enjoy 

 both ? » 



" No," said the professor ; " for, if I began to 

 kiss you, I should soon not care two straws about 

 the parasites of the missing link." 



"Well," said Virginia, "it is nice of you to 

 say that ; but still — Ah me ! " 



XVII. 



Virginia was preparing, with a rueful face, to 

 resume her enjoyment of the higher pleasures, 



