"Leave us to judge of that. Speak them as they are."
"If I should scandalize you," said Euphrasie.
"Scandalize? Nonsense! Tell us your idea."
"Well, then," said the young lady, "although splendid edifices have often been erected by the piety of the faithful, and though in all ages it has been accounted a good work to adorn the House of God, I believe that our holy foundress, who was ever watchful over the interior spirit, thought there might be danger of exciting vanity even in that respect, and on that account desired poverty for her daughters in every arrangement. Our own dear reverend mother often inculcated upon us the remembrance of the words of God, 'I will not give my glory to another,' and it seems as if there were a special temptation to man to indulge vain-glory when undertaking any vast exterior work for religion. The most splendid temple that the world ever saw, that of Solomon, lasted barely four hundred years; its founder fell into idolatry, and the worshippers were carried into captivity in punishment for their sins. The second temple had been built scarcely six hundred years when the frequenters of that temple, urged on by the priests, crucified the Lord of Life. It seems dangerous for man, in this his fallen state, to deal personally with magnificence of his own creation; he is too easily puffed up to render it safe for his soul. Therefore is the first beatitude for the poor in spirit, who desire no grandeur."
"Thus thinking, you disapprove of St. Peter's at Rome!" add M. Bertolot.
"Disapprove! nay, reverend father, you well know I should not dare to disapprove of aught that the church has sanctioned. The church has every kind of disposition to deal with, and [{334}] in her wisdom follows St. Paul's advice, in becoming innocently all things to all men, that she may gain some to Christ. I was merely referring to our own dear community, who strive after the spirit of our great foundress. Among these, I have seen some weep when the desecrations have been described to them of heretics taking luncheon baskets within the very walls of St. Peter's, and using the place as a lounging apartment or gossiping room. Again, I have seen others to whom that magnificent church of Rome would bring most saddening thoughts, to whom it appeared as a monument of the great schism which rent the seamless garb of Christ into nameless divisions; where not only the shade of Luther haunts the fancy, but that of the monk Tetzel also, who paltered with the doctrine he was sent to preach."
M. Bertolot shook his head. "You view these matters too strictly," he said; "all men are not like the good nuns, accustomed to practise interior recollection so perfectly they can dispense in a measure with exterior aids; to most souls, exterior appliances are useful and necessary accessories to devotion. The mass of mankind must not be judged of by likening them to the inmates of a convent; there is a wider gulf between than you have any idea of."
"Nay, I remember my father's death," said Euphrasie, mournfully; "but, reverend father, was it not you who told me that, in those terrible disturbances, the riches of the church attracted the wolves to the sheepfold, and that the treasures of the religious houses occasioned the thieves to enter and take possession?"
"True! Too true! my child; yet will the piety of the worshipper ever seek to adorn the house of God, and the richness of the shrine be an indication of the fervor of that piety. It is alike the pleasure and the duty of the votary thus to enrich the house of God."
"But," interrupted Eugene; "Mademoiselle Euphrasie speaks of herself as if belonging in a convent already. If not indiscrete, may I be allowed to say that I presume we are not to take that supposition 'au pied de la lettre?'"