EUGENIE, to Madame de Saint-Ange — What! Then you mean tosay, dear friend, God's existence is an illusion?
MADAME DE SAINT-ANGE — And without doubt one of the mostdeplorable.
DOLMANCE — To believe therein one must first have gone outof one's mind. Fruit of the terror of some and of the frailty ofothers, that abominable phantom, Eugénie, is of no use to theterrestrial scheme and would infallibly be injurious to it, sincethe will of God would have to be just and should never be able toally itself to the essential injustices decreed by Nature; since Hewould constantly have to will the good, while Nature must desire itonly as compensation for the evil which serves her laws; since itwould be necessary that he, God, exert his influence at all times,while Nature, one of whose laws is this perpe
