as the good man and his excellent wife received
me so hospitably, became my daily abode. They had a son, an amiable
youth whose enthusiasm quickly procured him my confidence, for just as
much as Lacoste disputed all religious principles, young Beauvais
warmly cherished them, voluntary lived in and for religion: he was the
most zealous defender of his Catholic party, that I have ever been
acquainted with."

"Heavens!" exclaimed Edmond, "you are then, venerable man, the Edmond
Watelet, of whom I have so often heard the Counsellor of Parliament
speak, as the favourite friend of his youth?"

A long pause ensued.--"It is indeed so," said the aged priest wiping
away his tears, "the young enthusiastic Beauvais must now be an old
man; I too though am become old! Aye, truly, there is a period which
our heart refuses to believe, it is that alone which exalts the life of
each one of us to a strange fiction, to a wonderful tale. He is still
living then? ah, my dear Chevalier, you are yourself very like him.
That is the spell, which so inseparably bound me to you."

Edmond talked of his father, but notwithstanding his deep emotion, he
felt it was impossible to discover to him at that moment, that he was
his son. After a time during which the old man recovered from his
agitation, he continued more calmly: "That which most contributed to
convert the paternal dwelling of my young friend into an enchanted
garden for me, was the society of the young and beautiful women, who
assembled there. Ha himself was affianced to a lovely girl, and he
ardently anticipated his union with her. His Lucy's sentiments
corresponded exactly with his own, and all that drew them nearer to
each other was more or less imbibed into their existence and grew with
the inspired hymn. The elder Beauvais only smiled at the high-strained
feeling of the young people, for though he was himself pious, he rather
feared that overreaching, and this religious ecstasy appeared to him as
such. I now visited the temple in high spirits with my enthusiastic
friend. The solemnity of God's service, the stillness, the enchanting
singing, the dread-inspiring presentiment which hovered over every
mystery that here tried to present itself visibly to the necessitous,
languishing senses, transported my heart. Already accustomed to look
upon every thing as a riddle, as a concealed mystery of love, the
celebration of the Mass appeared to me as elevated and divine, as
revelation and wor