idently inspired his pen.

For Godefroid, the hotel de la Chanterie now held a woman and a book;
day by day he loved the woman more; he discovered flowers buried beneath
the snows of winter in her heart; he had glimpses of the joys of a
sacred friendship which religion permits, on which the angels smile;
a friendship which here united these five persons and against which no
evil could prevail.

This is a sentiment higher than all others; a love of soul to soul,
resembling those rarest flowers born on the highest peaks of earth; a
love of which a few examples are offered to humanity from age to age,
by which lovers are sometimes bound together in one being, and which
explains those faithful attachments which are otherwise inexplicable
by the laws of the world. It is a bond without disappointment,
without misunderstanding, without vanity, without strife, without even
contradictions; so completely are the moral natures blended into one.

This sentiment, vast, infinite, born of Catholic charity, Godefroid
foresaw with all its joys. At times he could not believe the spectacle
before his eyes, and he sought for reasons to explain the sublime
friendship of these five persons, wondering in his heart to find true
Catholics, true Christians of the early Church, in the Paris of 1836.

VI. THE BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE OF CHANTERIE AND COMPANY

Within a week after his arrival Godefroid had seen such a concourse of
persons, he had overheard fragments of conversation relating to so many
serious topics, that he began to perceive an enormous activity in the
lives of the five inmates of the house. He noticed that none of them
slept more than five hours at the most.

They had all made, in some sort, a first day, before the second
breakfast. During that time strangers came and went, bringing or
carrying away money, sometimes in considerable sums. A messenger
from the Mongenod counting-room often came,--always very early in the
morning, so that his errand might not interfere with the business of the
bank.

One evening Monsieur Mongenod came himself, and Godefroid noticed that
he showed to Monsieur Alain a certain filial familiarity added to the
profound respect which he testified to the three other lodgers of Madame
de la Chanterie.

On that evening the banker merely put a few matter-of-fact questions to
Godefroid: "Was he comfortable? Did he intend to stay?" etc.,--at the
same time advising him to persevere in his plan.

"I n