"True, I feel the want of being able to light a cigarette whenever I like."
The abbot answered smiling, "But I suppose you have not been entirely without smoking, since you came here?"
"I should tell a lie if I said I had not smoked in secret."
"Why, bless me, tobacco was not foreseen by St. Benedict; there is no mention of it in his rule, and I am therefore free to allow its use; so smoke as many cigarettes as you like without being uneasy."
And Dom Anselm added:
"I hope shortly to have a little more time to myself, unless, indeed, I am obliged to keep my room, in that case I shall be happy to have a longer talk with you."
And the monk, who seemed exhausted, shook them by the hand.
Going down into the court with the oblate Durtal exclaimed,
"The Father Abbot is charming, and quite young."
"He is hardly forty."