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only comfort was that Arowhena snubbed my rival and would not look at him. Neither would she look at me; nevertheless, there was a difference in the manner of her disregard; this was all I could get from her.

Not that she at all avoided me; on the contrary I had many a tête-à-tête with her, for her mother and sister were anxious for me to deposit some part of my pension in the musical banks, this being in accordance with the dictates of their goddess Ydgrun, of whom both Mrs Nosnibor and Zulora were great devotees. I could not then be sure whether I had kept my secret from being in the least perceived by Arowhena herself but none of the others suspected me, so she was set upon me to get me to open an account, at any rate pro formâ, with the musical banks; and I need hardly say that she succeeded (as she should have done in whatever else she wanted from me) although I felt little confidence in the banks. But I did not yield at once; I enjoyed the process of being argued with too keenly to lose it by a prompt concession; besides, a little hesitation rendered the concession itself more valuable. It was in the course of conversations on this subject that I learnt the religious opinions of the Erewhonians. I will describe them as briefly as possible in the following chapters before I proceed with the personal adventures of myself and Arowhena.

They were idolaters, though of a comparatively enlightened kind; but here, as in other things, there was a discrepancy between their professed and actual belief, for they had a genuine and potent faith which existed without recognition alongside of their idol worship.