"Never."

Agricola, hearing this from his mother, looked at her with surprise, and
exclaimed: "Then Gabriel has the same interest as the daughters of
General Simon, or Mdlle. de Cardoville, to be in the Rue Saint-Francois
to-morrow?"

"Certainly," said Dagobert. "And now do you remember what he said to us,
just after my arrival--that, in a few days, he would need our support in
a serious matter?"

"Yes, father."

"And he is kept a prisoner at his seminary! And he tells your mother that
he has to complain of his superiors! and he asked us for our support with
so sad and grave an air, that I said to him--"

"He would speak so, if about to engage in a deadly duel," interrupted
Agricola. "True, father! and yet you, who are a good judge of valor,
acknowledged that Gabriel's courage was equal to yours. For him so to
fear his superiors, the danger must be great indeed."

"Now that I have heard your mother, I understand it all," said Dagobert.
"Gabriel is like Rose and Blanche, like Mdlle. de Cardoville, like your
mother, like all of us, perhaps--the victim of a secret conspiracy of
wicked priests. Now that I know their dark machinations, their infernal
perseverance, I see," added the soldier, in a whisper, "that it requires
strength to struggle against them. I had not the least idea of their
power."

"You are right, father; for those who are hypocritical and wicked do as
much harm as those who are good and charitable, like Gabriel, do good.
There is no more implacable enemy than a bad priest."

"I know it, and that's what frightens me; for my poor children are in
their hands. But is all lost? Shall I bring myself to give them up
without an effort? Oh, no, no! I will not show any weakness--and yet,
since your mother told us of these diabolical plots, I do not know how it
is but I seem less strong, less resolute. What is passing around me
appears so terrible. The spiriting away of these children is no longer an
isolated fact--it is one of the ramifications of a vast conspiracy, which
surrounds and threatens us all. It seems to me as if I and those I love
walked together in darkness, in the midst of serpents, in the midst of
snares that we can neither see nor struggle against. Well! I'll speak
out! I have never feared death--I am not a coward and yet I confess--yes,
I confess it--these black robes frighten me--"

Dagobert pronounced these words in so sincere a tone, that his son
started, for he shared the same impre