But at the end of a little time this method no longer succeeded. Then the Abbé was firm with Durtal, and one day, when his penitent was bemoaning himself, he replied,—
"It is an attack you must get over," and then he added lightly after a silence, "And it will not be the last or the worst."
At this Durtal turned restive; the Abbé, however, drove him to bay, wanting to make him confess how senseless his struggles were.
"The idea of the cloister haunts you," said he. "Well, then, what is there to hinder you? Why do you not retire to a Trappist convent?"
"You know very well that I am not strong enough to endure the rule."
"Then become an oblate; go to join Monsieur Bruno at Notre Dame de l'Atre."
"No, indeed, not that, at any rate. To be an oblate at La Trappe is the same thing as remaining at Chartres! It is a mere half-measure. Monsieur Bruno will always remain a boarder; he will never be a monk. He gets all the disadvantages of the cloister, and none of the benefits."
"But there are other monasteries besides those of La Trappe," replied the Abbé. "Be a Benedictine Father or oblate, a black Friar. Their rule seems to be mild; you will live in a world of learned men and writers; what more would you have?"
"I do not say—but—"
"But what?"