"No; but if we pray for dreams?"
"But Cecilia could not desire such a dream?"
"Not exactly that dream." And so the story was gradually unfolded to the priest.
"What you tell me is very serious. The holy hours which should be devoted to meditation of the Cross wasted in dreams of counterparts! A strange name they have given these visitations, some might have given them a harsher name." Father Daly's thoughts went to certain literature of the Middle Ages. "The matter is, of course, one that is not entirely unknown to me; it is one of the traditional sins of the convent, one of the plagues of the Middle Ages. The early Fathers suffered from the visits of Succubi. What you tell me is very alarming. Would it not be well for me to speak to the Prioress on the subject?"
"No, on no account."
"But she must be exceedingly anxious to put a stop to such a pollution of the meditation?"
"Yes, indeed, I will say that nobody is more opposed to it; but she is one of these women who, though she sees that something is wrong, will not go to the root of the wrong at once. The tendency of her mind is towards the contemplative, and not towards the active orders, and she will not give way to the relaxation of the rule. You had better just take the matter into your hands, feeling sure she will approve of the action in the end. A word or two on the subject in your sermon on Sunday would be very timely."
Father Daly promised to think the matter over, and Sister Winifred said:
"But you must know we shall have much opposition?"
"But who will oppose us?"