manner which went to Gabriel's heart. "The
service is nearly ended. What I have to tell
you must be told at once; the errand on
which you will guide me must be performed
before to-morrow dawns. Sit here near me;
and attend to what I now say!"

Gabriel obeyed: Father Paul then proceeded
thus:—

"I believe the confession made to you by
your grandfather to have been true in every
particular. On the evening to which he referred
you, I approached your cottage, as he
said, for the purpose of asking shelter for the
night. At that period, I had been studying
hard to qualify myself for the holy calling
which I now pursue; and, on the completion
of my studies, had indulged in the recreation
of a tour on foot through Brittany, by way
of innocently and agreeably occupying the
leisure time then at my disposal, before I
entered the priesthood. When I accosted
your father, I had lost my way, had been
walking for many hours, and was glad of any
rest that I could get for the night. It is
unnecessary to pain you now, by reference to
the events which followed my entrance under
your father's roof. I remember nothing
that happened from the time when I laid
down to sleep before the fire, until the time
when I recovered my senses at the place
which you call The Merchant's Table. My
first sensation was that of being moved into
the cold air: when I opened my eyes I saw
the great Druid stones rising close above me,
and two men on either side of me rifling my
pockets. They found nothing valuable there,
and were about to leave me where I lay,
when I gathered strength enough to appeal
to their mercy through their cupidity. Money
was not scarce with me then, and I was able
to offer them a rich reward (which they
ultimately received as I had promised) if they
would take me to any place where I could
get shelter and medical help. I suppose they
inferred by my language and accent—perhaps
also by the linen I wore, which they examined
closely—that I belonged to the higher ranks
of the community, in spite of the plainness
of my outer garments; and might therefore
be in a position to make good my promise
to them. I heard one say to the other, ' Let
us risk it; ' and then they took me in their
arms, carried me down to a boat on the beach,
and rowed to a vessel in the offing. The
next day they disembarked me at Paimbœuf,
where I got the assistance which I so much
needed. I learnt through the confidence
they were obliged to place in me, in order to
give me the means of sending them their promised
reward, that these men were smugglers,
and that they were in the habit of using the
cavity in which I had been laid, as a place of
concealment for goods, and for letters of advice
to their accomplices. This accounted
for their finding me. As to my wound, I was
informed by the surgeon who attended me,
that it had missed being inflicted in a mortal
part by less than a quarter of an inch, and
that, as it was, nothing but the action of the
night air in coagulating the blood over the
place had, in the first instance, saved my life.
To be brief, I recovered after a long illness,
returned to Paris, and was called to the
priesthood. The will of my superiors obliged
me to perform the first duties of my vocation
in the great city; but my own wish
was to be appointed to a cure of souls in
your province, Gabriel. Can you imagine
why?"

The answer to this question was in Gabriel's
heart; but he was still too deeply
awed and affected by what he had heard to
give it utterance.

"I must tell you then what my motive
was," said Father Paul. "You must know
first that I uniformly abstained from disclosing
to any one where and by whom my life
had been attempted. I kept this a secret
from the men who rescued me—from the surgeon—
from my own friends even. My reason
for such a proceeding was, I would fain
believe, a Christian reason. I hope I had
always felt a sincere and humble desire to prove
myself, by the help of God, worthy of the
sacred vocation to which I was destined. But
my miraculous escape from death made an
impression on my mind, which gave me
another and an infinitely higher view of this
vocation—the view which I have since striven,
and shall always strive for the future to
maintain. As I lay, during the first days of
my recovery, examining my own heart, and
considering in what manner it would be my
duty to act towards your father, when I was
restored to health, a thought came into my
mind which calmed, comforted, and resolved
all my doubts. I said within myself—' In a
few months more I shall be called to be one
of the chosen ministers of God. If I am
worthy of my vocation, my first desire towards
this man who has attempted to take my life,
should be, not to know that human justice
has overtaken him, but to know that he has
truly and religiously repented and made
atonement for his guilt. To such repentance
and atonement let it be my duty to call him;
if he reject that appeal, and be hardened only
the more against me because I have forgiven
him my injuries, then it will be time enough
to denounce him for his crimes to his fellow
men. Surely it must be well for me here
and hereafter, if I begin my career in the
holy priesthood by helping to save from hell
the soul of the man who, of all others, has
most cruelly wronged me.' It was for this
reason, Gabriel—it was because I desired to
go straightway to your father's cottage, and
reclaim him after he had believed me to be
dead—that I kept the secret and entreated of
my superiors that I might be sent to Brittany.
But this, as I have said, was not to be at first,
and when my desire was granted, my place
was assigned me in a far district. The persecution
under which we still suffer broke out;