be a priest without the tonsure; all priests are not in orders. To vow
one's self to good, that is imitating a true priest; it is obedience
to God. I am not preaching to you; I am not trying to convert you; I
am explaining our lives to you."

"Instruct me, madame," said Godefroid, deeply impressed, "so that I
may not fail in any of your rules."

"That would be hard upon you; you will learn them by degrees. Never
speak here of your misfortunes; they are slight compared to the
catastrophes by which the lives of those you are now among were
blasted."

While speaking thus, Madame de la Chanterie drew her needle and let
her stitches with unbroken regularity; but here she paused, raised her
head, and looked at Godefroid. She saw him charmed by the penetrating
sweetness of her voice, which possessed, let us say it here, an
apostolic unction. The sick soul contemplated with admiration the
truly extraordinary phenomenon presented by this woman, whose face was
now resplendent. Rosy tints were spreading on the waxen cheeks, her
eyes shone, the youthfulness of her soul changed the light wrinkles
into gracious lines, and all about her solicited affection. Godefroid
in that one moment measured the gulf that separated this woman from
common sentiments. He saw her inaccessible on a peak to which religion
had led her; and he was still too worldly not to be keenly piqued, and
to long to plunge through the gulf and up to the summit on which she
stood, and stand beside her. Giving himself up to this desire, he
related to her all the mistakes of his life, and much that he could
not tell at Mongenod's, where his confidences had been confined to his
actual situation.