viour: 'Give ear to me, innocent victim, Thou who heardest the
penitent thief; give ear to a sullied but contrite victim, who has
shared in the glory of Thy martyrdom and been ransomed by Thy blood!'"

"If you persist in your enthusiastic design," said the abbe, after
unsuccessfully bringing forward all possible objections, "you must at
least let me know in what way you thought I could be of service to you."

"I cannot act in this matter," replied the Trappist, "without the
consent of a young man who will soon be the last of the Mauprats; for
the chevalier has not many days to wait before he will receive the
heavenly reward due to his virtues; and as for myself, I cannot avoid
the punishment I am about to seek, except by falling back into the
endless night of the cloister. I speak of Bernard Mauprat; I will not
call him my nephew, for if he heard me he would blush to think that he
bore this shameful title. I heard of his return from America, and this
news decided me to undertake the journey at the painful end of which you
now behold me."

It seemed to me that while he was saying this he kept casting
side-glances towards the clump of trees where I was, as if he had
guessed my presence there. Perhaps the movement of some branches had
betrayed me.

"May I ask," said the abbe, "what you now have in common with this young
man? Are you not afraid that, embittered by the harsh treatment formerly
lavished on him at Roche-Mauprat, he may refuse to see you?"

"I am certain that he will refuse; for I know the hatred that he still
has for me," said the Trappist, once more looking towards the spot where
I was. "But I hope that you will persuade him to grant me an interview;
for you are a good and generous man, Monsieur l'Abbe. You promised to
oblige me; and, besides, you are young Mauprat's friend, and you will
be able to make him understand that his interests are at stake and the
honour of his name."

"How so?" answered the abbe. "No doubt he will be far from pleased to
see you appear before the courts to answer for crimes which have since
been effaced in the gloom of the cloister. He will certainly wish you to
forego this public expiation. How can you hope that he will consent?"

"I have hope, because God is good and great; because His grace is
mighty; because it will touch the heart of him who shall deign to hear
the prayer of a soul which is truly penitent and deeply convinced;
because my eternal salvation is in the hands