ses, enamelled plates and
chalice, a wealth of gold and silver ornaments, many dating back to the
twelfth century. Some of the crosses were magnificent in design and
execution, some had strange and interesting histories. Then he showed us
rare and wonderful needlework rich in gold thread and coloured silks,
also dating back seven or eight hundred years. He explained everything
in a quaint fashion of his own, then took us through a series of rooms
each having its special attraction. Amongst the pictures were one or two
of rare merit and a very early period.

These rooms and their treasures were well worth the little trouble it
had cost to see them. Moreover we were brought into contact with an
amiable ecclesiastic full of refinement and romance.

[Illustration: CATHEDRAL CLOISTERS: GERONA.]

"It is a pleasure to show them to you," he said, when we thanked him. "I
love all these things amongst which my life has been spent, for I hardly
recall the time when I was not attached to the cathedral. As a child I
was an acolyte, and remember the delight with which I used to turn the
wheel at the altar and listen to its silver chiming. I was never happy
but in church, attending on the priests, filling every office permitted
to a boy. From the age of ten I determined to be a priest myself and
never lost sight of that hope--though I once hesitated. But I was poor,
and don't know whether it would have come to pass unaided by one of our
canons who was rich and good; educated and half adopted me, and dying
four years ago left me a sufficient portion of his wealth. I almost
think of myself as one of those romances which only occasionally happen
in life. But there was a moment"--he smiled almost sadly--"when I was
sorely tempted to abandon religion for the world."

"For what reason?" we asked, for he paused. Evidently he wished the
question, and there was something so interesting about him that we were
willing to linger and listen.

"A very ordinary reason. I daresay you can guess, for it was the old,
old story: nothing less than love. I had not yet taken religious vows
and was free to choose. Should it be earth or heaven? Few perhaps have
been more completely enthralled than I. Walking and sleeping my thoughts
were filled with the gentle Rosalie. She was beautiful and I thought her
perfect. Outward grace witnessed to her inward purity of soul.

"To make my conflict harder, she returned all my affection. It was
perhaps singular tha