No one knew what form of faith he followed,--it
was only when he went to live with the _bonde_, after Thelma's
marriage,--that the nature of his creed was dimly suspected. But Ulrika
had no dislike for him on this account,--her opinions had changed very
much during the past few months. As devout a Lutheran as ever, she began
to entertain a little more of the true spirit of Christianity--that
spirit of gentle and patient tolerance which, full of forbearance
towards all humanity, is willing to admit the possibility of a little
good in everything, even in the blind tenets of a heathen creed. Part of
this alteration in her was due to the gratitude she secretly felt
towards the Gueldmar family, for having saved from destruction,--albeit
unconscious of his parentage,--Sigurd, the child she had attempted to
murder. The hideous malevolence of Lovisa Elsland's nature had shown her
that there _may_ be bad Lutherans,--the invariable tenderness displayed
by the Gueldmars for her unrecognized, helpless and distraught son,--had
proved to her that there _may_ be good heathens.
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