Her conversation had been, no one could doubt, most hearty
and sincere, and her children had gone with her in all simplicity;
but the seeds she had previously sown in her son's mind sprang up as
he grew older, and when Eustace became his friend, he was, though
outwardly conforming, restless and dissatisfied, by no means disposed
to return to Calvinism, and yet with too much of the old leaven in
him to remain contented in the Church. He was in danger of throwing
off all thought of faith and of Divine things in his perplexity, and
I know many of our advisers would say this was best, provided he died
at last in the bosom of the Catholic Church; but I can never think
so, and, as things stood, Eustace's advice aided him in remaining at
that time where he was, a member of the Church. My brother himself
was, my mother ardently hoped, likely to join our communion. The
Abbe Walter Montagu who had himself been a convert, strove hard to
win him over, trying to prove to him that the English Church was
extinct, stifled by her own rebellious heretic children, so soon as
the grace that was left in her began to work so as to bring her back
to Catholic doctrine and practice. His argument was effectual with
many of our fugitives, but not with my brother. He continued still
to declare that he believed that his Church was in the course of
being purified, and would raised up again at last; and his heart was
too loyal to desert her, any more than his King, because of her
misfortunes.
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