“Oh, yes,” slowly assented the lord of the castle. “But,” he added with a peculiar twinkle of the eye, “I know something that is more beautiful.”
The prelate understood. “Hm! I won’t dispute that. These are fine possessions. It would be a pity to have them pass into the hands of strangers.”
“You have echoed my very thought, your reverence. So I think we are agreed on the general point.”
“You mean that in these times of disturbance there is no place where Marie will be so secure as in the cell of a convent.”
“Exactly, and unless I am mistaken that is also what you mean.”
“In a general sense, yes; but we have not yet considered the most important point.”
“Let us come to it.”
“The question arises, How is the girl to be secured for the convent? and next, How is she to be taken there?”
“I will see that she is taken there. As to the rest of the business, I appeal to the experience of your reverence.”
“Hm! a difficult task when, as in this case, the novice has the utmost aversion to a convent.”