‘All the same,’ Father Oliver interjected, ’if one sees a woman going into danger, surely one may warn her.  A word of warning dropped casually is sometimes effective.’

‘But it is fatal to insist,’ Father O’Grady remarked; ’and one should not try to bar the way—­that is my experience at least.’

’Well, your experiences are longer than mine, Father O’Grady, I submit.  The mistake I made will certainly not be repeated.  But since hearing from you I’ve heard from Miss Glynn, and the remarks she makes in her letters about Mr. Poole’s literary work, unless indeed he be a Catholic, alarm me.’

‘Biblical criticism is not a Catholic characteristic,’ Father O’Grady answered.  ‘So Miss Glynn has written to you?’

’Yes, but nothing definite about Mr. Poole’s work—­nothing definite.  Do you know anything, Father O’Grady, about this man’s writing?  What is his reputation in the literary world?’

‘I’ve heard a great deal about him,’ Father O’Grady answered.  ’I’ve made inquiries and have read some of Mr. Poole’s books, and have seen them reviewed in the newspapers; I’ve heard his opinions discussed, and his opinions are anti-Christian, inasmuch as he denies the divinity of our Lord.’

‘Could anybody be more anti-Christian than that?’ Father Oliver asked.

‘Yes, very much more,’ Father O’Grady replied.  ’There have always been people, and their number is increasing, who say that Christianity is not only untruthful but, what is worse, a great evil, having set men one against the other, creating wars innumerable.  Millions have owed their deaths to tortures they have received because they differed regarding some trifling passage in Scripture.  There can be no doubt of that, but it is equally true that Christianity has enabled many more millions to live as much from a practical point of view as from a spiritual.  If Christianity had not been a necessity it would not have triumphed;’ and Father O’Grady continued to speak of Mr. Poole’s historical accounts of the history of the rise and influence of Christianity till Father Oliver interrupted him, crying out: 

’And it is with that man her life will henceforth be passed, reading the books he reads and writes, and, what is worse, listening to his insidious conversation, to his subtle sophistries, for, no doubt, he is an eloquent and agreeable talker.’

‘You think, then,’ Father O’Grady said, ’that a Christian forfeits his faith if he inquires?’

’No, if I thought that I should cease to be a Christian.  She is not inquiring the matter out of her own account; she is an enforced listener, and hears only one side.  Every day a plausible account is being poured into her ears, and her circumstances are such as would tempt her to give a willing ear to Mr. Poole’s beliefs that God has not revealed his existence, and that we are free to live as we please, nature being our only guide.  I cannot imagine a young woman living in a more dangerous atmosphere than this.