nts have done; my spirit is too dull, too
gross. I have often been unable to keep pace with you in your pious and
lofty aspirations; and this softens my regret at quitting you; for you
will be in better hands, my daughter."

Mrs. Gaunt was touched by her old friend's humility, and gave him both
hands, with the tears in her eyes. But she said nothing; the subject was
delicate; and really she could not honestly contradict him.

A day or two afterwards he brought his successor to the house; a man so
remarkable that Mrs. Gaunt almost started at first sight of him. Born of
an Italian mother, his skin was dark, and his eyes coal-black; yet his
ample but symmetrical forehead was singularly white and delicate. Very
tall and spare, and both face and figure were of that exalted kind which
make ordinary beauty seem dross. In short, he was one of those ethereal
priests the Roman Catholic Church produces every now and then by way of
incredible contrast to the thickset peasants in black that form her
staple. This Brother Leonard looked and moved like a being who had come
down from some higher sphere to pay the world a very little visit, and
be very kind and patient with it all the time.

He was presented to Mrs. Gaunt, and bowed calmly, coldly, and with a
certain mixture of humility and superiority, and gave her but one
tranquil glance, then turned his eyes inward as before.

Mrs. Gaunt, on the contrary, was almost fluttered at being presented so
suddenly to one who seemed to her Religion embodied. She blushed, and
looked timidly at him, and was anxious not to make an unfavorable
impression.

She found it, however, very difficult to make any impression at all.
Leonard had no small talk, and met her advances in that line with
courteous monosyllables; and when she, upon this, turned and chatted
with Father Francis, he did not wait for an opening to strike in, but
sought a shelter from her commonplaces in his own thoughts.

Then Mrs. Gaunt yielded to her genuine impulse, and began to talk about
the prospects of the Church, and what might be done to reconvert the
British Isles to the true faith. Her cheek flushed, and her eye shone
with the theme; and Francis smiled paternally; but the young priest drew
back. Mrs. Gaunt saw in a moment that he disapproved of a woman meddling
with so high a matter uninvited. If he had said so, she had spirit
enough to have resisted; but the cold, lofty look of polite but grave
disapproval dashed her