"That would be inconsistent, after all her sermons."
"Women are apt to be inconsistent—even the best of them."
"In any case, even if my mother should object, which I think unlikely, I have made up my mind. I had time to commune with my soul in that three hours' walk through the darkness. I came to you this night fully resolved not to ask your advice as to the step, but your help in taking it. Where can I go? To whom can I submit myself?"
"Frankly, Claude, I am too much in the dark to help you. Come to me at my church to-morrow morning after mass, with your mind more at rest, and make your confession. Let me see into the bottom of your heart. I cannot talk to a man behind a mask. I can say nothing till I know all."
"No, I cannot do that. I must have time. I want solitude and a cell. I want to shake off the husk of the world I have lived in too long. I want to be done with earthly desires. I shall have a new mind when I am in my woollen gown."
"Alas, Claude, I doubt, I doubt. Do you remember all we talked about when you were last in this room—a long time ago?"
"Yes, I remember."
"You remember how I tried to awaken you to the danger of your relations with Mario Provana's wife."
"Those are things a man does not forget."
"You denied the danger; but you did not deny your love. You gave me your assurance, not as to a priest, but between man and man, that no evil should ever come of that love."