"May I ask a question, without giving offense?" he said, timidly.

Father Benwell took his hand. "My dear Arthur, let us open our minds to
each other without reserve. What is your question?"

"You have spoken, Father, of a great trust that is about to be placed in
me."

"Yes. You are anxious, no doubt, to hear what it is?"

"I am anxious to know, in the first place, if it requires me to go back
to Oxford."

Father Benwell dropped his young friend's hand. "Do you dislike Oxford?"
he asked, observing Penrose attentively.

"Bear with me, Father, if I speak too confidently. I dislike the
deception which has obliged me to conceal that I am a Catholic and a
priest."

Father Benwell set this little difficulty right, with the air of a man
who could make benevolent allowance for unreasonable scruples. "I think,
Arthur, you forget two important considerations," he said. "In the first
place, you have a dispensation from your superiors, which absolves
you of all responsibility in respect of the concealment that you have
practiced. In the second place, we could only obtain information of
the progress which our Church is silently making at the University by
employing you in the capacity of--let me say, an independent observer.
However, if it will contribute to your ease of mind, I see no objection