. About this time, a solitary individual appeared on the
stage. He seemed to enjoy peculiar privileges, not only from his
situation, but by the loud salutations and noisy welcomes with which he
was greeted from the crowd below. It was the good monk of St. Bernard,
who, with a bare head and a joyous contented face, answered to the several
calls of the peasants, most of whom had either bestowed hospitality on the
worthy Augustine, in his many journeyings among the charitable of the
lower world, or had received it at his hands in their frequent passages
of the mountain. These recognitions and greetings spoke well for humanity;
for in every instance they wore the air of cordial good-will, and a
readiness to do honor to the benevolent character of the religious
community that was represented in the person of its clavier or steward.

"Good luck to thee, Father Xavier, and a rich _quete_" cried a burly
peasant; "thou hast of late unkindly forgotten Benoit Emery and his. When
did a clavier of St. Bernard ever knock at my door, and go away with an
empty hand? We look for thee, reverend monk, with thy vessel, to-morrow;
for the summer has been hot, the grapes are rich, and the wine is
beginning to run freely in our tubs. Thou shalt dip without any to look at
thee, and, take it of which color thou wilt, thou shalt take it with a
welcome."

"Thanks, thanks, generous Benoit; St. Augustine will remember the favor,
and thy fruitful vines will be none the poorer for thy generosity. We ask
only that we may give, and on none do we bestow more willingly than on the
honest Vaudois whom may the saints keep in mind for their kindness and
good-will!"

"Nay, I will have none of thy saints; thou knowest we are St. Calvin's men
in Vaud, if there must be any canonized. But what is it to us that thou
hearest mass, while we love the simple worship! Are we not equally men?
Does not the frost nip the members of Catholic and Protestant the same? or
does the avalanche respect one more than the other? I never knew thee, or
any of thy convent, question the frozen traveller of his faith, but all
are fed, and warmed, and, at need, administered to from the pharmacy, with
brotherly care, and as Christians merit. Whatever thou mayest think of the
state of our souls, thou on thy mountain there, no one will deny thy
tender services to our bodies. Say I well, neighbors, or is this only the
foolish gossip of old Benoit, who has crossed the Col so often, that he