farm-house, stand irresolute before the gate,
and then retrace his steps sighing heavily
as he went, but never pausing again on his
homeward way? Because the torment of
his horrible secret had grown harder to bear
than ever, since he had given the promise
that had been required of him. Because,
while a strong impulse moved him frankly to
lay bare his hidden dread and doubt to the
father whose beloved daughter was soon to
be his wife, there was a yet stronger passive
influence which paralysed on his lips the terrible
confession that he knew not whether he
was the son of an honest man, or the son of
an assassin and a robber. Made desperate by
his situation, he determined, while he hastened
homeward, to risk the worst and ask
that fatal question of his father in plain
words. But this supreme trial for parent and
child was not to be. When he entered the
cottage, François was absent. He had told
the younger children that he should not be
home again before noon on the next day.

Early in the morning Gabriel repaired to
the farmhouse, as he had been bidden. Influenced
by his love for Rose, blindly confiding
in the faint hope (which in despite of heart
and conscience he still forced himself to cherish)
that his father might be innocent, he
now preserved the appearance at least of perfect
calmness. " If I tell my secret to Rose's
father, I risk disturbing in him that confidence
in the future safety of his child, for
which I am his present and only warrant "—
Something like this thought was in Gabriel's
mind, as he took the hand of Père Bonan, and
waited anxiously to hear what was required
of him on that day.

"We have a short respite from danger,
Gabriel," said the old man. " News has come
to me that the spoilers of our churches and
the murderers of our congregations, have been
stopped on their way hitherward by tidings
which have reached them from another district.
This interval of peace and safety will be a short
one—we must take advantage of it while it is
yet ours. My name is among the names on
the list of the denounced; if the soldiers of
the Republic find me here!—but we will say
nothing more of this: it is of Rose and of you
that I must now speak. On this very evening,
your marriage may be solemnised with all
the wonted rites of our holy religion, and
the blessing may be pronounced over you by
the lips of a priest. This evening, therefore,
Gabriel, you must become the husband and
the protector of Rose. Listen to me attentively,
and I will tell you how."

This was the substance of what Gabriel now
heard from Père Bonan:—

Not very long before the persecutions broke
out in Brittany, a priest, known generally by
the name of Father Paul, was appointed to a
curacy in one of the northern districts of the
province. He fulfilled all the duties of his
station in such a manner as to win the confidence
and affection of every member of his
congregation, and was often spoken of with
respect, even in parts of the country distant
from the scene of his labours. It was not,
however, until the troubles broke out, and
the destruction and bloodshed began, that he
became renowned far and wide, from one end
of Brittany to another. From the date of the
very first persecutions the name of Father
Paul was a rallying cry of the hunted peasantry :
he was their great encouragement
under oppression, their example in danger,
their last and only consoler in the hour of
death. Wherever havoc and ruin raged most
fiercely, wherever the pursuit was hottest and
the slaughter most cruel, there the intrepid
priest was sure to be seen pursuing his sacred
duties in defiance of every peril. His hair-breadth
escapes from death; his extraordinary
re-appearances in parts of the country
where no one ever expected to see him again,
were regarded by the poorer classes with
superstitious awe. Wherever Father Paul
appeared, with his black dress, his calm face,
and the ivory crucifix which he always carried
in his hand, the people reverenced him
as more than mortal; and grew at last to believe
that, single-handed, he would successfully
defend his religion against the armies of
the republic. But their simple confidence in
his powers of resistance was soon destined to
be shaken. Fresh reinforcements arrived in
Brittany, and overran the whole province
from one end to the other. One morning,
after celebrating service in a dismantled
church, and after narrowly escaping with his
life from those who pursued him, the priest
disappeared. Secret inquiries were made
after him in all directions; but he was heard
of no more.

Many weary days had passed, and the dispirited
peasantry had already mourned him
as dead, when some fishermen on the northern
coast observed a ship of light burden in the
offing, making signals to the shore. They put
off to her in their boats; and on reaching the
deck saw standing before them the well-remembered
figure of Father Paul. He had
returned to his congregations; and had
founded the new altar that they were to
worship at, on the deck of a ship! Razed
from the face of the earth, their Church had
not been destroyed—for Father Paul and the
priests who acted with him had given that
Church a refuge on the sea. Henceforth,
their children could still be baptized, their
sons and daughters could still be married, the
burial of their dead could still be solemnized,
under the sanction of the old religion for
which, not vainly, they had suffered so patiently
and so long. Throughout the remaining
time of trouble, the services were
uninterrupted on board the ship. A code
of signals was established by which those
on shore were always enabled to direct their
brethren at sea towards such parts of the
coast as happened to be uninfested by the
enemies of their worship. On the morning