of any
subject in any way the Abbot commands.

"And unless the master were very exceptional, what a stone of stumbling!

"And then, besides this, which is to me the most important question of
all, there are others worth considering. From the little I have been
told by my two priests, the blessed silence of the Cistercians is not
the rule with the black-frocked Orders. Now, however perfect these
cenobites may be, they remain none the less men; or, to express it
otherwise, sympathy and antipathy live in constant and compulsory
friction; with very restricted subjects of discussion, living in
complete ignorance of all that is going on outside, conversation must
degenerate into chatter; at last the only interest of life centres in
trivialities, in petty questions which in such an atmosphere assume the
importance of events.

"A man becomes an old maid, and how infinitely wearisome must this talk
be, unvaried by the unforeseen.

"Finally, there is the question of health. In the convent nothing but
stews and salads! A disordered stomach before long, broken sleep,
crushing fatigue in an ill-treated frame--ah, all that is neither
attractive nor amusing! Who knows whether, after a few months of this
mental and physical rule, I should not have sunk into bottomless
dejection, whether the sloth of those monastic gaols would not have
crushed me and left me absolutely incapable of thought or action?"

And he concluded:--

"It is madness to think of a cloistered life; I should do better to
remain at Chartres."

But hardly had he made up his mind not to move, when the reverse of the
medal forced itself upon him.

A convent! Why, it was the only logical existence, the only right life!
All these fears he suggested to himself were imaginary. In the first
place, as to his health. Had he forgotten La Trappe, where the food was
far more innutritious and the rule far stricter? Why be alarmed
beforehand?

And, on the other hand, could he fail to perceive the need for
conversation, the wisdom of speech, relieving the solitude of the
cloister just when weariness might supervene? It was a remedy against
constant introspection, and exercise taken with others secured health to
the soul and gave tone to the body; and as for saying that these
monastic dialogues would be trivial, were the conversations he might
hear in any other society more edifying? In short, was not the company
of the Brethren far superior to that of men of any profession