nor awaken my ambitions. He was too well read in human nature
to accept these as signs of an apathetic and callous disposition: he
recognized them rather as evidences of a temperament given up to some
one and engrossing theme.

I own that in my utter destitution there was a pleasing flattery to me
in this pursuit; and I could not but feel gratified at the zeal with
which he seemed to devote himself to comprehend me. He exposed me to the
various subjects of temptation which so successfully assail youth; but
he perceived that not one could touch the secret cord of my nature.
To some I was averse; I was indifferent to others. He took me into
society,--that circle of his intimates, which really in conversational
excellence surpassed anything I had ever met before; and although I
enjoyed it at the time, I could refrain from frequenting it without a
regret.

"You are a puzzle to me, Bernard," said he, addressing me by my former
"sobriquet," which he always used in private; "I want to see you take
interest in something, and show that humanity is not dead within you;
but nothing seems to touch, nothing to attract you; and yet it was not
thus that Sister Ursule first represented you to me. She spoke of you
as one that could be warmed by the zeal of a great cause, and whose
faculties would expand when once engaged in it. If the monarchy be too
mean for your ambition, what say you to the church?"

I pleaded my unworthiness, but he stopped me, saying:

"The career it is that creates the man. Only resolve firmly to fulfil a
duty, and mark how capacity comes of mere volition! Ursule herself is
an instance of what I say. Bred up amidst those who only cared for the
world and its vanities, see what she became by the working of noble
devotion, and see what has Margot sunk to for want of it!"

"Margot! what of her?" asked I, eagerly. "You did not tell me that you
had tidings of her."

The sallow cheek of the Abbe seemed tinged with a faint color as I
uttered these words with unusual warmth. Whatever his feelings, however,
they were quickly under control, as he said,--

"Margot has fallen,--fallen as never before fell one of her high
estate!"

I could not speak from emotion, but by my anxious look I entreated him
to continue. The recital, as he gave it, was a long one, but briefly
told was this: Margot had been "prepared" by her sister for admission
into the restored convent of the "Chaise Dieu," and at length had
entered upon h