The doctrine of
expediency, or the latitude they allow themselves on the score of
expediency--I don't quite know how they put it--but it has much to
answer for. I never find that my Roman Catholic friends are true, as
my Protestant friends are. There is always a something kept back, a
reservation; a want of straightforwardness, even when there is no
positive deception--I can't describe the thing I mean, but it is quite
perceptible, and causes an uneasy feeling of distrust, which is all
the more tormenting from its vagueness and want of definition. The
low-class Roman Catholics, I find, never hesitate if a lie will serve
their purpose; and Roman Catholic servants are notoriously
untrustworthy. That, of course, proves nothing, for one knows that
low-class people of any religion are not to be depended on--still,
there is no doubt that one finds deception more rife among Catholics
than among Protestants, and one wonders why, if the religion is not to
blame."
My sister, Claudia, had tried to catch Ideala's eye, and stop her, but
in vain; and the lady next her broke out the moment she paused:
"Indeed, you are quite wrong.
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