“Let me first do myself the honor of calling on You,” he said. “I am in no state to open my mind—as I might have wished to open it to you—after what has happened. In a day or two more—”
“Say the day after to-morrow,” Father Benwell hospitably suggested. “Do me a great favor. Come and eat your bit of mutton at my lodgings. Six o’clock, if you like—and some remarkably good claret, a present from one of the Faithful. You will? That’s hearty! And do promise me to think no more of our little domestic comedy. Relieve your mind. Look at Wiseman’s ‘Recollections of the Popes.’ Good-by—God bless you!”
The servant who opened the house door for Father Benwell was agreeably surprised by the Papist’s cheerfulness. “He isn’t half a bad fellow,” the man announced among his colleagues. “Give me half-a-crown, and went out humming a tune.” [ [!-- H2 anchor --] ]
CHAPTER VIII.
FATHER BENWELL’S CORRESPONDENCE
To the Secretary, S. J., Rome.
I.
I BEG to acknowledge the receipt of your letter. You mention that our Reverend Fathers are discouraged at not having heard from me for more than six weeks, since I reported the little dinner given to Romayne at my lodgings.
I am sorry for this, and more than sorry to hear that my venerated brethren are beginning to despair of Romayne’s conversion. Grant me a delay of another week—and, if the prospects of the conversion have not sensibly improved in that time, I will confess myself defeated. Meanwhile, I bow to superior wisdom, without venturing to add a word in my own defense.