ep! repentance cannot obliterate them,--years of
penance--fastings, and vigils, and wanderings, cannot wear them from my
remembrance! Look at me, my son, and may this decaying frame, which
time might yet have spared, teach thee the vanity of human hopes, and
lead thee to resist the impulses of passion, and to mistrust and
regulate, even the virtuous inclinations of thy heart!"

"Your words will be long remembered, father!" said De Valette, touched
by the sorrow of the venerable man; "and may the good saints restore
peace and hope to your wounded spirit!"

"And may heaven bless you, my son, and preserve you from those fatal
errors which have wrecked my peace, and withered the fairest hopes that
ever blossomed on the tree of earthly happiness! Go now," he added, in a
firmer tone, "forget this interview, if possible, and when we meet
again, think not of what you have now heard and witnessed, but see in me
only the humble missionary of the church, who, till this day"--his voice
again trembled, "till _she_ crossed my path"--

"_She_!" interrupted De Valette; "do you mean Mademoiselle de Courcy?"

"De Courcy!" repeated the priest, grasping the arm of Eustace, while the
paleness of death overspread his features; "who bears that most unhappy
name?"

"The niece of Mad. de la Tour," returned De Valette; "and, however
unfortunate the name, it has, as yet, entailed no evil on its present
possessor."

"Was it she, whom I just now saw with you?" asked the priest, with
increasing agitation.

"It was; and pardon me, father, your vehemence has already greatly
alarmed her."

"I meant it not," he replied; "but I will not meet her again--no, I dare
not look again upon that face. Has she parents, young man?" he
continued, after a brief pause.

"She has been an orphan from infancy," replied De Valette; "and Mad. de
la Tour is almost the only relative whom she claims on earth."

"She is a protestant?" said father Gilbert, inquiringly.

"She is," said De Valette; "though her parents, I have heard, were
Catholics, and Lucie has herself told me, that in her early childhood
she was instructed in that faith."

"Lucie!" muttered the priest, to himself, as if unconscious of another's
presence; "and _that_ name too! but no,--_she_ was not left among the
enemies of our faith,--it is a strange--an idle dream."

He covered his face with his hands, and remained several moments,
apparently in deep musing; and when he again looked up, every