kind on earth would be as nothing." He declined all the refreshments presented to him by the servants: "This is a fast day for me," he continued, "and I have not yet been permitted to dine to-day."
"You are too severe," said Christine, "too orthodox, too devout; moreover, I do not recollect that this is a fast day."
"It is not that," said the general solemnly; "for, at times, one may break this fast without any great qualms of conscience; but there are things which are not really connected with the church or her ordinances, but which lie in nature, and on that account are more deeply engraven on our hearts; things which many philosophers, as well as ecclesiastics censure as prejudice and superstition, and which nevertheless have, through the implicit faith of millions, been transmitted to us from the remotest times, and from that very circumstance possess, yes, I may so express myself, a revered, a holy authority. These signs and tokens of a dark futurity
