The Wanderers | Page 4

be cautious what we say."
Uncle Paul had from the first been endeavouring in vain to get ahead of
the friar without appearing rude, but he did not succeed till the latter
had got out of him all the information he wanted. The friar then
allowed his mule to drop in between us, and at once addressed Arthur
in a friendly way--inquiring of him how often he had attended mass
since his arrival, and who was his father confessor. Arthur replied that,
as he spent every Sunday in the country, and was occupied the whole of
each weekday in business, he had to confess that he had not paid due
attention to such matters.
"And you," said the friar to me,--"are you equally careless?"
"I hope that I am not careless," I answered; "but we Englishmen are not
brought up exactly like Spaniards, and consequently you may not
understand us clearly."
"All true Catholics are the same," remarked the friar. "You may expect
a visit before long from the Superior of my Order to inquire into your
religious condition, which appears to me unsatisfactory. Good-day,
young gentlemen; I cannot give you my blessing till I know more about
you."
Bowing to the friar, who, having gained all the information he required,
now reined in his mule, we rode on to rejoin Uncle Paul. Arthur
laughed. "I think we have somewhat puzzled the old fellow," he
observed.
"Depend upon it, though, that we shall before long receive the visit he
promises from his Superior, who may manage by some means or other
to find out the truth," I remarked.
Though Uncle Paul made light of the matter, too, I saw that he was not
altogether comfortable about it.

As soon as we arrived, I told my father and mother and Marian, that
they might be prepared.
"We must not be entrapped by him," said my father; "and I will show
my zeal by offering to assist in building a chapel in the
neighbourhood."
"I will not deny the truth," said my mother, with tears in her eyes.
"Nor will I," exclaimed Marian.
My father looked annoyed. "You must try then and keep out of the way
of the man," he said. "I will manage him, should he come."
I afterwards had a conversation with my young sister.
"It will be cowardly and disgraceful to deny our faith," she said. "Let
me entreat you, Guy, not to do so, whatever may be the consequences.
Our father is still unhappily blinded by the hope of securing worldly
advantages, or he would not think of acting as he proposes. He may
thus secure his own safety, and perhaps, for his sake, the inquisitors
may not interfere with us; but if they do, let us pray that we may be
firm. It is very, very, very sad, and will break our poor mother's heart,
for she already feels dreadfully the position in which we are placed. Oh,
what shall we do?"
"Trust in God," said Arthur, who just then came into the room, and had
overheard Marian's last remark. "My uncle is undoubtedly wrong, and
had I known before we left home the state of affairs in this island, and
what we were to encounter, I would have implored him not to come to
Trinidad; however, as we are here, we must seek for guidance how to
act should we, as I fear we shall, be questioned as to our religious
belief."
We three talked the matter over, and determined, if questioned, to
acknowledge ourselves Protestants, and refuse to attend the Roman
Catholic Church. We felt sure that Uncle Paul would agree with us, and
we proposed to get him to speak to our mother.

We were not disappointed in Uncle Paul's reply. He blamed himself
greatly for having yielded to our father's persuasions, and consented to
urge on our mother the duty of adhering firmly to her religious
convictions.
On Monday morning, Uncle Paul, Arthur, and I set off to return to the
city. On the way our uncle told us that our mother had solemnly
promised him not to change her religion, and to suffer anything rather
than be induced to do so. He had also spoken to our father, who seemed
very anxious, but who declared that, rather than abandon his estate and
the prospect of retrieving his fortunes, he would conform outwardly, if
necessary, to the religion of the country; but that he would allow us, if
we desired it, to quit the island.
We reached the town, and carried on business as usual, without any
interference from the officials of the Inquisition.
We were about to leave our place of business on Wednesday evening,
when Tim arrived with a message from my father, summoning us home
on account of the dangerous illness