it is sober,
stern, stalwart and strong. It might really almost be thought that one
is female and the other of the male sex. And then might we not conclude
that the first is symbolical of the Virgin and the second of Her Son? In
that case my inference would be akin to that offered to us by Monsieur
l'Abbe: the fires are to be ascribed to Satan, who would wreak himself
on the image of Her who has the power to crush his head."

"Pray have a slice of beef, our friend," said Madame Bavoil, coming in
with a bottle in her hands.

"No, thank you."

"And you, Monsieur l'Abbe?"

The Abbe Plomb bowed, but declined.

"Why, you eat nothing!"

"What! I? I may even confess that I am rather ashamed of having eaten so
heartily, after reading this morning the life of Saint Laurence of
Dublin, who, by way of food, was content to dip his bread in the water
clothes had been washed in."

"Why?"

"Well, in order to be able to say with the Prophet-King that he fed on
ashes--since ashes are used for lye; that is a penitential banquet which
is very unlike that we have just consumed," he added, laughing.

"Well, my dear Madame Bavoil, that puts even you to shame," said the
Abbe Gevresin. "You are not yet covetous of so meagre a feast; you are
really quite dainty! You must have milk or water to dip your sop in!"

"Dear me," said Durtal, "by way of high feeding I can improve on that. I
remember reading in an old book the story of the Blessed Catherine of
Cardona, who, without using her hands, cropped the grass, on her knees,
among the asses."

It had not struck Madame Bavoil that the friends were speaking in fun,
and she replied quite humbly,--

"God Almighty has never yet required me to strew my bread with ashes or
to graze the field--if He should give me the order, I should certainly
obey it.--But it does not matter."

And she was so far from enthusiastic that they all laughed.

"Then the Cathedral as a whole," said the Abbe Gevresin after a short
silence, "dates from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, excepting, of
course, the new spire and numerous details."

"Yes."

"And the names of the architects are unknown?"

"As are those of almost all the builders of great churches," replied the
Abbe Plomb. "It may, however, be safely assumed that during the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries the Benedictines of the Abbey of Tiron directed
the building of our church, for that monastery had established a House
at Chartres in 1117;