quence awakens--"

"No, my child, it is not I who speak well; it is things that are
eloquent. We can be sure of being great, even sublime, in obeying God,
in imitating Jesus Christ,--imitating him, I mean, as much as men are
able to do so, aided by faith."

"This moment, then, decides my life!" cried Godefroid. "I feel within me
the fervor of a neophyte; I wish to spend my life in doing good."

"That is the secret of remaining in God," replied Alain. "Have you
studied our motto,--_Transire benefaciendo_? _Transire_ means to go
beyond this world, leaving benefits on our way."

"Yes, I have understood it; I have put the motto of the order before my
bed."

"That is well; it is a trifling action, but it counts for much in my
eyes. And now I have your first affair, your first duel with misery,
prepared for you; I'll put your foot in the stirrup. We are about to
part. Yes, I myself am detached from the convent, to live for a time
in the crater of a volcano. I am to be a clerk in a great manufactory,
where the workmen are infected with communistic doctrines, and dream of
social destruction, the abolishment of masters,--not knowing that that
would be the death of industry, of commerce, of manufactures. I shall
stay there goodness knows how long,--perhaps a year,--keeping the books
and paying the wages. This will give me an entrance into a hundred or a
hundred and twenty homes of working-men, misled, no doubt, by poverty,
even before the pamphlets of the day misled them. But you and I can see
each other on Sundays and fete-days. We shall be in the same quarter;
and if you come to the church of Saint-Jacques du Haut-Pas, you will
find me there any day at half-past seven, when I hear mass. If you meet
me elsewhere don't recognize me, unless you see me rub my hands like
a man who is pleased at something. That is one of our signs. We have
a language of signs, like the deaf and dumb; you'll soon find out the
absolute necessity of it."

Godefroid made a gesture which the goodman Alain interpreted; for he
laughed, and immediately went on to say:--

"Now for your affair. We do not practise either the benevolence or the
philanthropy that you know about, which are really divided into several
branches, all taken advantage of by sharpers in charity as a business.
We practise charity as our great and sublime Saint Paul defines it; for,
my dear lad, we think that charity, and charity alone, which is Love,
can heal the wounds of Paris.