"Then, after the death of the princess, which took place, I think, in 1824, it was perceived that her body exhaled the odour of sanctity, and though she has not been canonized her intercession is invoked by her daughters in certain cases. Thus, for example, the Benedictine nuns of the Rue Monsieur ask her assistance when they lose anything, and their experience shows that their prayer is never in vain, since the object lost is found almost at once.
"But," continued the abbé, "since you like the convent so well, go there, especially when it is lighted up."
The priest rose and took up a "Semaine religieuse," which lay upon the table.
He turned over the leaves. "See," he said, and read, "'Sunday 3 o'clock, Vespers chanted; ceremony of clothing, presided over by the Very Reverend Father Dom Etienne, abbot of the Grande Trappe, and Benediction.'"
"That is a ceremony which interests me much."
"I too shall probably be there."
"Then we can meet in the chapel?"
"Just so."
"These ceremonies of clothing have not now the gaiety they had in the eighteenth century in certain Benedictine institutions, amongst others the Abbey de Bourbourg in Flanders," said the abbé smiling, after a silence.
And since Durtal looked at him questioningly—