aw the depth of that resignation which gave to God the one jewel that
would have atoned for the horrid sufferings of the past. If he were
free! He thought of old Lear moaning over dead Cordelia.

She lives! If it be so,
It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows
That ever I have felt.

"It is the right spirit," he repeated as he considered the matter. "One
must not stand in the way of a soul, or in the way of God. Yet were you
free, where would be the advantage? She is for the convent, and has
never thought of you in the way of love."

"Love begets love, father dear. I could light the flame in her heart,
for I am dear to her as a brother, as her father's son."

"Then her dream of the convent, which she has cherished so many years,
cannot be more than a dream, if she resigned it for you."

"I cannot argue with you," he said hopelessly, "and it's a sad subject.
There is only the will of God to be done."

"And if you were free," went on Monsignor smiling, "and tried and failed
to light love in her heart, you would suffer still more."

"A little more or less would not matter. I would be happy still to give
her to God."

"I see, I see," shaking his sage head. "To God! As long as it is not to
another and luckier fellow, the resignation is perfect."

Arthur broke into a laugh, and the priest said casually:

"I think that by the law of the Church you are a free man."

Arthur leaped to his feet with a face like death.

"In the name of God!" he cried.

Monsignor pushed him back into his chair.

"That's my opinion. Just listen, will you. Then take your case to a
doctor of the law. There is a kind of divorce in the Church known as the
Pauline Privilege. Let me state the items, and do you examine if you can
claim the privilege. Horatius, an infidel, that is, unbaptized, deserts
his wife legally and properly, because of her crimes; later he becomes a
Catholic; meeting a noble Catholic lady, Honoria, he desires to marry
her; question, is he free to contract this marriage? The answer of the
doctors of the law is in the affirmative, with the following conditions:
that the first wife be an infidel, that is, unbaptized; that to live
with her is impossible; that she has been notified of his intention to
break the marriage. The two latter conditions are fulfilled in your case
the moment the first wife secures the divorce which enables her to marry
her paramour. Horatius is then free to mar