Part 6 (1/2)

”It will be done just in time for the Bishop,” said Charlotte.

”Oh, it's not good enough for him!” said Miss Bolton; ”but it may do in church for the _Asperges_. How different all things will be!” continued she; ”I don't quite like, though, the idea of a cardinal in Oxford. Must we be so very Roman? I don't see why we might not be quite Catholic without the Pope.”

”Oh, you need not be afraid,” said White sagely; ”things don't go so apace. Cardinals are not so cheap.”

”Cardinals have so much state and stiffness,” said Miss Bolton: ”I hear they never walk without two servants behind them; and they always leave the room directly dancing begins.”

”Well, I think Oxford must be just cut out for cardinals,” said Miss Charlotte; ”can anything be duller than the President's parties? I can fancy Dr. Bone a cardinal, as he walks round the parks.”

”Oh, it's the genius of the Catholic Church,” said White; ”you will understand it better in time. No one is his own master; even the Pope cannot do as he will; he dines by himself, and speaks by precedent.”

”Of course he does,” said Charlotte, ”for he is infallible.”

”Nay, if he makes mistakes in the functions,” continued White, ”he is obliged to write them down and confess them, lest they should be drawn into precedents.”

”And he is obliged, during a function, to obey the master of ceremonies, against his own judgment,” said Willis.

”Didn't you say the Pope confessed, Mr. White?” asked Miss Bolton; ”it has always puzzled me whether the Pope was obliged to confess like another man.”

”Oh, certainly,” answered White, ”every one confesses.”

”Well,” said Charlotte, ”I can't fancy Mr. Hurst of St. Peter's, who comes here to sing glees, confessing, or some of the grave heads of houses, who bow so stiffly.”

”They will all have to confess,” said White.

”All?” asked Miss Bolton; ”you don't mean converts confess? I thought it was only old Catholics.”

There was a little pause.

”And what will the heads of houses be?” asked Miss Charlotte.

”Abbots or superiors,” answered White; ”they will bear crosses; and when they say Ma.s.s, there will be a lighted candle in addition.”

”What a good portly abbot the Vice-Chancellor will make!” said Miss Bolton.

”Oh, no; he's too short for an abbot,” said her sister; ”but you have left out the Chancellor himself: you seem to have provided for every one else; what will become of him?”

”The Chancellor is my difficulty,” said White gravely.

”Make him a Knight-Templar,” said Willis.

”The Duke's a queer hand,” said White, still thoughtfully: ”there's no knowing what he'll come to. A Knight-Templar--yes; Malta is now English property; he might revive the order.”

The ladies both laughed.

”But you have not completed your plan, Mr. White,” said Miss Bolton: ”the heads of houses have got wives; how can they become monks?”

”Oh, the wives will go into convents,” said White: ”Willis and I have been making inquiries in the High Street, and they are most satisfactory. Some of the houses there were once university-halls and inns, and will easily turn back into convents: all that will be wanted is grating to the windows.”

”Have you any notion what order they ought to join?” said Miss Charlotte.

”That depends on themselves,” said White: ”no compulsion whatever must be put on them. _They_ are the judges. But it would be useful to have two convents--one of an active order, and one contemplative: Ursuline for instance, and Carmelite of St. Theresa's reform.”