"Do you think they are any the less happy?" asked Father Jervis. "My dear Monsignor, surely you know human nature better than that! They have lost the vulgarity of Versailles, and they have regained its royalty. Don't you see that?"
"Well!"—Monsignor paused. "It's simply medievalism back again, it seems to me."
"Exactly!" said the other. "You have hit it at last. It is medievalism—that is to say, human nature with faith and reverence, and without cant."
He paused again, and his eyes twinkled.
"You know honours and privileges are worth nothing if every one has them. If we all wore crowns, the kings would go bareheaded."
CHAPTER V
(I)
He awoke suddenly, at some movement, and for an instant did not remember where he was.
For nearly a week they had stayed on at Versailles; and each day that had passed had done its share in making this fairyland seem more like a reality. But that strange subconscious self of his, for which even now there seemed no accounting, was still obstinate; it still assured him that the world ought not to be like this, that religion ought not to be so concrete and effective—that he would awake soon and find himself in some desolate state of affairs where Faith, hemmed in by enemies, still fought for very life against irresistible odds. It was at night and at morning that the mood came on him most forcibly; when instinct, free from facts, and ranging clear of the will's dominion, asserted itself most strongly, and as he awoke this night it was on him again.
He looked round the dark little room with bewildered eyes; then he fumbled with a button, and all was flooded with light.