acrifice all things, which so
looks to the true welfare of the beloved that it will give thee any
earthly suffering rather than see thee sink into perdition by thy sins.
This is real love, daughter: and thou canst not sin in giving it to
Belasez or to any other."

"Yet, Father," said Doucebelle in a puzzled tone, "the religious give up
love when they go into the cloister. I do not understand. A Sister of
Saint Ursula may not leave her convent, even if her own mother lies
dying, and pleads hard to see her. And though some priests do wed,"--
this had not yet, in England, ceased to be the case--"yet people always
seem to think the celibate priests more holy, as if that were more in
accordance with the will of God. Yet God tells us to love each other.
I cannot quite understand."

If Doucebelle could have seen, as well as spoken, through the
confessional grating, assuredly she would have stopped sooner. For the
agony that was working in every line of Father Bruno's face would have
been terrible to her to see. But she only thought that it was a long
while before he answered her, and she wondered at the hard, constrained
tone in his voice.

"Child!" he said, "does any one but God `quite understand'? Do we
understand ourselves?--and how much less each other? It is only love
that understands. He who most loves God will best understand men. And
for the rest,--O Lord who hast loved us, pardon the blunders and
misunderstandings of Thy people, and save Thy servants that trust in
Thee!--Now go, my child,--unless thou hast more to say. _Absolvo te_."

Doucebelle rose and retired. But she did not know that Father Bruno
heard no more confessions. She only heard that he was not at home when
dinner was served; and when he appeared at supper, he looked very worn
and white, as if after a weary journey.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

THE SHADOW OF LONG AGO.

"'Tis a fair, fair face, in sooth:
Larger eyes and redder mouth
Than mine were in my first youth."

_Elizabeth Barrett Browning_.

So faithfully had the Countess adhered to her plighted word that Belasez
should be seen by no one, that not one of the priests had yet beheld her
except Father Nicholas, and the meeting in that case had been accidental
and momentary. But when Father Bruno announced to his brother priests
his intention of seeking an interview with the Jewish maiden, Father
Nicholas shook his head waggishly.

"Have a care of the toils of Satan, Brother