"'That cannot be, for Father Mateo has confessed no woman this night.'
"'How! he has not, when we have proof that he brought her here?'
"'What do you mean, you blackguards? brought a woman into the convent! So this is the way you take to injure Father Mateo's reputation, and cast scandal upon our order!'
"'No, sir, we did not say it with that intention; but—'
"'But what?' asked the guardian, very indignant. 'What honorable motive could he have had in bringing a woman here at night?'
"The men looked at each other.
"'Didn't I tell you,' grumbled one, 'that the thing wasn't natural, but miraculous?'
"'Yes, yes,' said another; 'this is the doing of God or the devil—and not of the devil, for he wouldn't interfere to hinder his own work.'
"'In God's name go, evil tongues!' thundered the guardian; 'and take heed how you approach convents with bad designs, and lay snares, and invent calumnies against their peaceful dwellers, who, like Father Mateo, sleep tranquilly in their cells; for our holy patron watches over us.'
"'You can't doubt now,' said the most timid of the three, 'that it was the very St. Francis himself who went with us to save that woman by a miracle.'