"Go away, Ivo; I'll stay here: Peter and I want to talk together."

[Illustration: Peter and I want to talk together.]

"No: stay here, Ivo," said the sufferer: "he may know all."

"Peter," said Constantine, "in the lowest hell you couldn't suffer more
than I have suffered. I have prayed to God often and often to take my
eye away and let you keep yours: I have kept one of my eyes shut when I
was alone, just to see no more than you. Oh, dear Peter, do please,
please forgive me!"

Constantine wept bitterly, and the patient begged him to be quiet, lest
his parents should find out about it. Ivo tried to comfort him too; but
the ruling passion soon appeared again:--

"I wish somebody would tear one of my eyes out, so that I shouldn't
have to be a parson, and sit behind a parcel of books and make a long
face while other people are enjoying themselves. Be glad you have only
one eye and needn't be a parson. But the last cock hasn't crowed yet,
neither."

Ivo looked sorrowfully at the scapegrace.

Peter was, indeed, henceforth unfit for the ministry. For in
Leviticus iii. 1 it is written, "If his oblation be a sacrifice of
peace-offering, he shall offer it without blemish before the Lord." A
clergyman must be without bodily imperfection.

Even when Constantine came to take leave of Peter, before getting into
the carriage which was to take him to the convent, he said, "I wish the
carriage would upset and break my leg. Good-bye, Peter: don't grieve
too much for your eye."

These words of Constantine, which betrayed the abhorrence of his inmost
soul to the clerical function, had made a deep impression on Ivo.
Often, in his solitary walk to school, he would whisper to himself, "Be
glad you have only one eye: you needn't be a parson;" and then he would
close each of his eyes alternately, to make sure that it was not his
case. Constantine was a riddle to him; but he prayed for him in church
for some time.

Meanwhile the time had come for Ivo in his turn to set out for the
convent of Ehingen. His father's house was filled with the bustle of
preparation, as if he were on the point of being married. At first the
sight of his new clothes was a source of pleasure; but soon the thought
of parting outweighed all others, and an inexpressible feeling of dread
overcame him. It was a comfort to think that his mother and Nat, with
the dun, were to accompany him. Having taken leave of the chaplain, of
his companions at Horb, and of Mr