ge enough to own the truth; he was afraid of
seeming ridiculous if he confessed to such a panic; so to avoid a direct
answer he vaguely shook his head.

"And I cannot help wondering why you should hesitate, for you will be
welcomed with open arms. The Father Abbot is a man of the highest merit,
and, moreover, no enemy to art. Besides--and this I hope will suffice to
reassure you--he is a most simple and kind-hearted monk."

"But I have to finish my article."

The two priests laughed.

"You have a week before you to write your article in."

"And then, to get any benefit from a monastery, I ought not be in the
state of dryness and diffusion in which I find myself vegetating,"
Durtal went on with difficulty.

"The saints themselves are not free from distractions," replied the Abbe
Gevresin. "For instance, think of the monk of whom Tauler speaks, who,
on quitting his cell in the month of May, would cover his face with his
hood, that he might not see the country, and so be hindered from
contemplating his soul."

"Oh, our friend, must that gentle Jesus, as the Venerable Jeanne says,
be for ever the poor man pining for admittance at the door of our heart?
Come, just a little goodwill--open yours to Him," cried Madame Bavoil.

And Durtal, finally driven into his last intrenchments, by a nod
signified acquiescence in the wish of all his friends. But he did it
with deep reluctance, for he could not rid himself of a distracting idea
that this concession implied a vow on his part to God!

CHAPTER XV.

This idea, which had taken firm possession of him for a few minutes,
seemed to fade away, and by the morrow there only remained a startled
excitement which nothing could account for; he now shrugged his
shoulders, but still, at the bottom of his soul a vague sense of dread
would surge up.

Was not the very absurdity of it a proof that this notion was one of the
presentiments that we sometimes feel without understanding it? Was it
not, again, for lack of a command plainly given by some inward voice, a
warning, a direct and secret hint, that he should be on his guard not to
think of this visit to a cloister as a mere pleasure trip?

"But this is monstrous!" Durtal exclaimed at last. "When I went to La
Trappe for my great purification, I was not harassed by apprehensions of
this kind; when I have gone there again several times since, it never
occurred to me that I should really bury myself in a monastery; and now
t