as
I? An Englishman? Ah, an Irishman, then?

"No," I said, "a Scotsman."

A Scotsman? Ah, he had never seen a Scotsman before. And he looked me
all over, his good, honest, brawny countenance shining with interest, as
a boy might look upon a lion or an alligator. From him I learned with
disgust that I could not be received at Our Lady of the Snows; I might
get a meal, perhaps, but that was all. And then, as our talk ran on, and
it turned out that I was not a pedlar, but a literary man, who drew
landscapes and was going to write a book, he changed his manner of
thinking as to my reception (for I fear they respect persons even in a
Trappist monastery), and told me I must be sure to ask for the Father
Prior, and state my case to him in full. On second thoughts he
determined to go down with me himself; he thought he could manage for me
better. Might he say that I was a geographer?

No; I thought, in the interests of truth, he positively might not.

"Very well, then" (with disappointment), "an author."

It appeared he had been in a seminary with six young Irishmen, all
priests, long since, who had received newspapers and kept him informed
of the state of ecclesiastical affairs in England. And he asked me
eagerly after Dr. Pusey, for whose conversion the good man had continued
ever since to pray night and morning.

"I thought he was very near the truth," he said; "and he will reach it
yet; there is so much virtue in prayer."

He must be a stiff, ungodly Protestant who can take anything but
pleasure in this kind and hopeful story. While he was thus near the
subject, the good father asked me if I were a Christian; and when he
found I was not, or not after his way, he glossed it over with great
good-will.

The road which we were following, and which this stalwart father had
made with his own two hands within the space of a year, came to a
corner, and showed us some white buildings a little farther on beyond
the wood. At the same time, the bell once more sounded abroad. We were
hard upon the monastery. Father Apollinaris (for that was my companion's
name) stopped me.

"I must not speak to you down there," he said. "Ask for the Brother
Porter, and all will be well. But try to see me as you go out again
through the wood, where I may speak to you. I am charmed to have made
your acquaintance."

And then suddenly raising his arms, flapping his fingers, and crying out
twice, "I must not speak! I must not speak!" he ran away