iably a year or
two older than himself, as should always be the case with one's chiefest
friend. When he was eighteen, she was twenty; she no longer kissed his
forehead at night time, but stood a little further from him with folded
arms, chastely smiling, ravishingly sweet. And he--he only named her now
in a whisper, feeling as if he would faint each time the well-loved name
passed his lips in prayer. No more did he dream of childish games within
the garden of heaven, but of continual contemplation before that white
figure, whose perfect purity he feared to sully with his breath. Even
from his own mother did he conceal the fervour of his love for Mary.

Then, a few years later, at the seminary, his beautiful affection for
her, seemingly so just, so natural, was disturbed by inward qualms.
Was the cult of Mary necessary for salvation? Was he not robbing God
by giving Mary a part, the greater part, of his love, his thoughts, his
heart, his entire being? Perplexing questions were these, provoking an
inward struggle which increased his passion, riveted his bonds. For he
dived into all the subtleties of his affection, found unknown joys
in discussing the lawfulness of his feelings. The books treating of
devotion to the Virgin brought him excuses, joyful raptures, a wealth of
arguments which he repeated with prayerful fervour. From them he learned
how, in Mary, to be the slave of Jesus. He went to Jesus through Mary.
He cited all kinds of proofs, he discriminated, he drew inferences.
Mary, whom Jesus had obeyed on earth, should be obeyed by all mankind;
Mary still retained her maternal power in heaven, where she was the
great dispenser of God's treasures, the only one who could beseech Him,
the only one who allotted the heavenly thrones; and thus Mary, a mere
creature before God, but raised up to Him, became the human link between
heaven and earth, the intermediary of every grace, of every mercy; and
his conclusion always was that she should be loved above all else in God
himself. Another time he was attracted by more complicated theological
curiosities: the marriage of the celestial spouse, the Holy Ghost
sealing the Vase of Election, making of the Virgin Mary an everlasting
miracle, offering her inviolable purity to the devotion of mankind. She
was the Virgin overcoming all heresies, the irreconcilable foe of Satan,
the new Eve of whom it had been foretold that she should crush the
Serpent's head, the august Gate of Grace, b