The seven were there, as when she had first seen them, mute, masked, and impenetrable as phantoms. The eighth, who had then spoken to Consuelo, and seemed to be the interpreter of the council and initiator of adepts, thus spoke to her:—
"Consuelo, you have passed through the tests to which we have subjected you with satisfaction. We can grant you our confidence, and are about to prove it."
"Listen!" said Consuelo. "You think me free from reproach; yet I am not. I have disobeyed you. I left the retreat you assigned me."
"From curiosity?"
"No."
"Will you tell us what you learned?"
"What I have learned is purely personal. Among you is a confessor, to whom I can and will reveal all."
The old man rose and said—
"I know all. This girl's fault is trivial. She knows nothing that you wish her to be ignorant of. The confidence of her thoughts is between her and me. In the interim, use the present moment to reveal to her what she should know. I will vouch for her in all things."
The initiator then said, after he had looked towards the tribunal, and received a token of assent—