16 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



ion with theology, as indeed the world hitherto al- 

 ways has done. But those two things, as Professor 

 Huxley well observes, have absolutely nothing to 

 do with each other. ' It may be,' says that great 

 teacher, ' that the object of a man's religion is an 

 ideal of sensual enjoyment, or — ' " 



" Ah ! " cried Virginia, " that is my religion, 

 Paul." 



" Nonsense ! " replied Paul ; " that cannot be 

 the religion of half Humanity, else high, holy 

 solemn, awful morality would never be able to 

 stand on its own basis. See, the night has fallen, 

 the glorious moon has risen, the stupendous stars 

 are sparkling in the firmament. Come down with 

 me to the sea-shore, where we may be face to 

 face with Nature, and I will show you then what 

 true religion — what true worship is." 



The two went out together. They stood on 

 the smooth sands, which glittered white and sil- 

 very in the dazzling moonlight. All was hushed. 

 The gentle murmur of the trees and the soft 

 splash of the sea seemed only to make the si- 

 lence audible. The professor paused close be- 

 side Virginia, and took her hand. Virginia liked 

 that, and thought that religion without theology 

 was not perhaps so bad, after all. Meanwhile 

 Paul had fixed his eyes on the moon. Then in a 

 voice almost broken with emotion, he whispered. 

 " The prayer of the man of science, it has been 

 said, must be for the most part of the silent sort. 

 He who said that was wrong. It need not be si- 

 lent ; it need only be inarticulate. I have dis- 

 covered an audible and a reasonable liturgy which 

 will give utterance to the full to the religion of 

 exact thought. Let us both join our voices, and 

 let us croon at the moon.' 



The professor at once began a long, low howl- 

 ing. Virginia joined him, until she was out of 

 breath. 



" Paul, " she said at last, " is this more ra- 

 tional than the Lord's Prayer ? " 



" Yes," said the professor, " for we can ana- 

 lyze and comprehend that ; but true religious feel- 

 ing, as Professor Tyndall tells us, we can neither 

 analyze nor comprehend. See how big Nature 

 is. and how little— ah, how little!— we know 

 about it. Is it not solemn, and sublime, and aw- 

 ful ? Come, let us howl again." 



The professor's devotional fervor grew every 

 moment. At last he put his hand to his mouth, 

 and began hooting like an owl, till it seemed that 

 all the island echoed to him. The louder Paul 

 hooted and howled, the more near did he draw to 

 Virginia. 



"Ah," he said, as he put his arm about her 



waist, " it is in solemn moments like this that the 

 solidarity of mankind becomes most apparent." 



Virginia, during the last few moments, had 

 stuck her fingers in her ears. She now took 

 them out, and, throwing her arms round Paul's 

 neck, tried, with her cheek on his shoulder, to 

 make another little hoot ; but the sound her lips 

 formed was much more like a kiss. The power 

 of religion was at last too much for Paul. 



"For the sake of cosmic emotion," he ex- 

 claimed, " other half of Humanity, and for the 

 sake of rational religion, I will kiss you ! " 



The professor was bending down his face over 

 her, when, as if by magic, he started, stopped, 

 and remained as one petrified. Amid the sharp si- 

 lence, there rang a human shout from the rocks. 



" Oh," shrieked Virginia, falling on her knees, 

 " it is a miracle — it is a miracle ! God is angry 

 with us for pretending that we do not believe on 

 him." 



The professor was as white as a sheet, but he 

 struggled with his perturbation manfully. 



"It is not a miracle," he cried, "but an hallu- 

 cination. It is an axiom with exact thinkers that 

 all proofs of the miraculous are hallucinations." 



"See," shrieked Virginia, again, "they are 

 coming — they are coming ! Do not you see 

 them ? " 



Paul looked, and there, sure enough, were two 

 figures, a male and a female, advancing slowly 

 toward them, across the moonlit sand. 



" It is nothing," cried Paul ; " it cannot possi- 

 bly be anything. I protest, in the name of sci- 

 ance, that it is an optical delusion." 



Suddenly the female figure exclaimed, " Thank 

 God, it is he ! " 



In another moment the male figure exclaimed, 

 " Thank God, it is she ! " 



" My husband ! " gasped Virginia. 



"My wife!" replied the bishop (for it was 

 none other than he). "Welcome to Chasuble 

 Island. By the blessing of God it is on your own 

 home you have been wrecked, and you have been 

 living in the very house that I had intended to 

 prepare for you. Providentially, too, Professor 

 Darnley's wife has called here, in her search for 

 her husband, who has overstaid his time. See, my 

 love, my dove, my beauty, here is the monkey I 

 promised you as a pet, which broke loose a few 

 days ago, and which I was in the act of looking 

 for when your joint cries attracted us, and we 

 found you." 



A yell of delight here broke from the profess- 

 or. The eyes of the three others were turned 

 on him, and he was seen embracing wildly a mon- 



