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Bates, Arlo, 1850-1918

"The Puritans"

"The church makes
marriage a sacrament; it recognizes its purity; it"--
"Then what are you doing," she burst in, "with your exceptions to the
theory of the church? It is you who degrade it--Pardon me, cousin," she
added in a calmer voice, coming to him and laying her fingers lightly
on his shoulder. "I am speaking out of my heart. I have the shame of
knowing that I once failed to realize how high and how noble a thing
marriage is. I am older than you, and I have suffered as I hope you may
never have to suffer; the end of it all is that I have learned that
there is nothing else on earth so blessed as the real love of husband
and wife. Of course," she concluded, as he would have interrupted, "I
talk as a woman, and I cannot decide what you are to do. Only I would
like you to believe that I would help you if I could, and that what I
say of marriage is the thing which seems to me the truest thing on
earth."
Then without waiting for reply, she went away and left him to his
thoughts.

IX

HIS PURE HEART'S TRUTH
Two Gentlemen of Verona, iv.


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