n, the monk so far forgot his sworn duty
as to confess his immodest and insane love for the wife of another man!"

"Ah, she was, then, married?" remarked the cardinal.

"Yes, she was married; sold by her own parents, sacrificed at the shrine
of mammon, married to a man whom she did not and could not love, and who
pursued her with an insane jealousy. Ah, she suffered and suffered with
the uncomplaining calmness of an angel. And I, did I not also suffer? We
wept together, we complained together, until our hearts at length forgot
complaining, and an unspeakable, a terrible happiness, made us forget
our troubles. I had forgotten all--my God, my clerical vows; she also
had forgotten all--her husband, her vow of fidelity; and if a thought of
these things sometimes intruded upon our moments of happiness, it only
caused us to plunge into new delights, and to lull ourselves anew into a
blessed forgetfulness!"

"And the good, jealous husband remarked nothing?" asked the cardinal.

"He remarked nothing! He loved me, he confided in me, he called me his
friend; and when he was compelled to take a long journey, he confided to
me his house and his wife, establishing me as the guard of her virtue!"

The cardinal broke out into loud laughter. "These good husbands," said
he, "they are all alike to a hair. Every one has a friend in whom he
confides, and it is that very friend who betrays him. They must all
fulfil their destinies, these good husbands! Relate further, holy
father! Your story is very entertaining. I am curious to hear the end!"

"The end was terrible, replete with horror and shame," said the pope.
"We lived blessed days, heavenly nights. Oh, we were so happy that we
hardly had a thought for our criminality, but only for our love. One
night there was a knocking at the closed door of the house, and we
shudderingly recognized the voice of the husband demanding admission."

"And you were not at all in a situation to grant it to him," laughingly
interposed the cardinal. "He might, perhaps, have been not a little
astonished, this good husband, that you watched by night as well as by
day the temple of his wedded happiness."

"With tears of anguish and terror she conjured me to fly, to save her
from the derision of the world and the anger of her husband. She led me
to a secret stairway, and I, like a madman pursued by the furies, was
hastening to descend, when my foot slipped and I fell down the stairs
with a loud clattering