ntly opposed her choice of the religious life, but no earthly
power, she declared, should sever her from it.

The beauty of the lifelong friendship between Francis and Clara is thus
touched upon by Mrs. Oliphant:--

"It was one of those tender and touching friendships which are to
the student of history like green spots in the desert; and which
gave to the man and the woman thus voluntarily separated from all
the joys of life a certain human consolation in the midst of their
hardships. They can have seen each other but seldom, for it was one
of the express stipulations of the Franciscan Rule that the friars
should refrain from all society with women, and have only the most
sparing and reserved intercourse even with their sisters in
religion. And Francis was no priest, nor had he the privilege of
hearing confession and directing the spiritual life of his daughter
in the faith. But he sent to her to ask enlightenment from her
prayers, when any difficulty was in his way. He went to see her
when he was in trouble; especially once on his way to Rieti to have
an operation performed on his eyes. Once the two friends ate
together at a sacramental meal, the pledge and almost the
conclusion on earth of that tenderest, most disinterested, and
unworldly love which existed between them. That he was sure of her
sympathy in all things, of her prayers and spiritual aid,
whatsoever he might be doing, wheresoever he might be, no doubt was
sweet to Francis in all his labors and trials. As he walked many a
weary day past that church of St. Damian, every stone of which was
familiar to him, and many laid with his own hands, must not his
heart have warmed at thought of the sister within, safe from all
conflict with the world, upon whose fellow-feeling he could rely
absolutely as man can rely only on woman? The world has jeered at
the possibility of such friendships from its earliest age; and yet
they have always existed,--one of the most exquisite and delicate
of earthly ties. Gazing back into that far distance over the
graves, not only of those two friends, but of a hundred succeeding
generations, a tear of grateful sympathy comes into the student's
eye. He is glad to believe that, all those years, Francis could see
in his comings and goings the cloister of Clara; and that this