"But I have not one," exclaimed the monk.
"I have several," said M. Bruno, "and shall be most happy to offer you one. You will allow me, father?..."
The monk acquiesced by a sign.
"Then if you will come with me," replied the oblate, addressing Durtal, "I will hand it you without delay."
They went upstairs together, and Durtal then learnt that M. Bruno lived in a room at the bottom of a small corridor, not far from his own.
His cell was very simply furnished with old middle-class furniture, a bed, a mahogany bureau, a large book-case full of ascetic books, an earthenware stove and some arm-chairs. These articles were evidently the property of the oblate, for they were nothing like the furniture of La Trappe.
"Pray be seated," said M. Bruno, indicating an arm-chair; and they conversed.
Having first discussed the Sacrament of Penance, the talk came round to the subject of Father Maximin, and Durtal admitted the high bearing of the prior had terrified him at first.
M. Bruno laughed. "Yes," he said, "he produces that effect on those who never come near him, but when one associates with him, one finds that he is only strict for himself, for no one is more indulgent to others. In every acceptation of the term he is a true and holy monk; besides, he has great judgment...."
And as Durtal spoke to him of the other cenobites, and wondered that there were some quite young men among them, M. Bruno replied,