Durtal recognized his companion, as having seen him in the chapel, singing in the choir during the Office.
He had an air at once good-natured and firm, and his little grey eye smiled as it glanced behind his branched spectacles.
"Well," said he, "how have you borne our regimen?"
"I have had every chance; I came herewith my stomach out of order, my body ill, and the simple Trappist meals have cured me."
And when Durtal narrated briefly the stages of soul he had undergone, the monk murmured,
"That is nothing in regard to demoniacal attacks; we have had here true cases of possession."
"And Brother Simeon discovered them!"
"Ah! you know that...." And he replied quite simply to Durtal, who spoke to him of his admiration for the poor lay brothers,
"You are right, sir; if you could talk with these peasants and illiterate men, you would be surprised at the often profound answers which these people give you; then they alone at the monastery are really courageous; we, the Fathers, when we think ourselves too weak, accept willingly the authorized addition of an egg; they never; they pray more, and it must be admitted that our Lord listens to them, since they get well again, and indeed are never ill."
And to a question of Durtal who asked him in what consisted the functions of procurator, the monk answered,