ll be so happy even in the paradise of my fathers." Her
husband, whose conscience was not quite dead within him, listened
silent and abashed. "Ah," she continued, "there is something
wonderful in that religion!"

The woman's words bore fruit. All day long, as her husband went about
his business, the remembrance of his lost Faith was tugging at his
heartstrings. Catching sight of Vincent digging in the fields, he
went to him and bade him take courage. "At the first opportunity," he
said, "I will escape with you to France."

It was nine long months before that opportunity came, for the
Frenchman was in the Sultan's service and was not able to leave the
country. At last, however, the two men, escaping together in a small
boat, succeeded in reaching Avignon, and Vincent was free once more.

Cardinal Montorio, the Pope's legate, was deeply interested in the
two fugitives, and a few days later reconciled the apostate, now
deeply repentant, to the Church. The Cardinal, who shortly afterwards
returned to Rome, took Vincent with him, showing him great kindness
and introducing him to several people of importance. The opinion they
formed of him is shown by the fact that he was chosen not long after
to go on a secret mission to the court of Henry IV, King of France.

An interview--or rather several interviews--with a reigning monarch
would have been considered in those days as a first-rate chance for
anyone who had a spark of ambition. Nothing would have been easier
than to put in a plea for a benefice or a bishopric; but Vincent, who
was both humble and unselfish, had no thought of his own advancement.
His only desire was to get his business over and to leave the Court
as quickly as possible.

The question of how he was to live remaining still unanswered, he
took a room in a house near one of the largest hospitals in Paris and
devoted himself to the service of the sick and dying. But even the
rent of the little room was more than he could afford to pay, and he
was glad to share it with a companion. This was a judge from his own
part of the country who was in Paris on account of a lawsuit and who,
not being overburdened with money, offered to share the lodging and
the rent.

It was at this time that Vincent met Father--afterwards Cardinal--de
Berulle, one of the most holy and learned priests of his time, who
was occupied at that moment in founding the French Congregation of
the Oratory, destined to do such good work for the