g, and
with the other hand he held on to the Father's chair.

"That was bad enough, but there was worse to follow. Our poor Paul had
grown to be a man by this time, and Satan put it into his heart to avenge
his sister's dishonour. 'As the whirlwind passeth, so the wicked are no
more.' The betrayer of his trust was found dead in his room, slain by an
unknown assassin. Brother Paul had killed him."

John Storm had fallen to his knees. If hell itself had opened at his feet
he could not have been stricken with more horror. In a voice strangled by
fear he stammered: "But why didn't you tell me this before? Why have you
hidden it until now?"

"Passions, my son, are the same in a monastery as outside of it, and I
had too much reason to fear that the saintliest soul in our Brotherhood
would have refused to live and eat and sleep in the same house with a
murderer. But the poor soul had come to me like a hunted beast, and who
was I that I should turn my back upon him? Before that he had tramped
through the streets and slept in the parks, under the impression that the
police were pursuing him, and thereby he had contracted the lung disease
from which he suffers still. What was I to do? Give him up to the law?
Who shall tell me how I could have held the balance level? I took him
into my house; I sheltered him; I made him a member of our community;
Heaven forgive me, I suffered myself to receive his vows. It was for me
to comfort his stricken body, for the Church to heal his wounded soul;
and as for his crime, that was in God's hands, and God alone could deal
with it."

The Father had risen to his feet, and he spoke the last words with
uplifted hand.

"Now you know why I refused that poor boy's petition. I loved him as a
son, but neither the disease of his body nor the weakness of his mind
could break the firmness of the rule by which I held him. I knew that
Satan was dragging him away from me, and I would not give him up to the
sufferings and dangers which the Evil One was preparing for him in the
world. But how subtle are the temptations of the devil! He found the weak
place in my armour at last. He found you, my son--you; and he tempted you
by all your love, by all your pity, by all your tenderness, and you fell,
and this is the consequence."

The Father clasped his hands at his breast and walked to and fro in the
little room.

"The bitterness of the world against religious houses is great already;
but if anything should