Part 15 (2/2)

And seeing that Durtal was listening attentively, the abbe continued,--

”Among these three observances, one only, that of the Cistercian Trappists, to which belonged the abbey of which I was a guest, followed in their integrity the rules of the twelfth century, and led the monastic life of Saint Bernard's day. This alone recognized the rule of Saint Benedict, taken in its strictest application, and completed by the Charte de Charite, and the use and customs of Citeaux; the two others had adopted the same rule, but revised and modified in the seventeenth century by the Abbe de Rance, and again one of them, the Belgian congregation, had changed the statutes imposed by that abbot.

”At the present day, as I have just said, all the Trappists form only one and the same inst.i.tute under the name, Order of Reformed Cistercians of the Blessed Virgin Mary of La Trappe, and all resume the rules of Citeaux, and live again the life of the cen.o.bites of the Middle Ages.”

”But if you have visited these ascetics,” said Durtal, ”you must know Dom Etienne?”

”No, I have never stayed at La Grande Trappe, I prefer the poor and small monasteries where one is mixed up with the monks, to those imposing convents where they isolate you in a guest-house, and in a word keep you separate.

”There is one in which I make my retreats, Notre Dame de l'Atre, a small Trappist monastery a few leagues from Paris, which is quite the most seductive of shelters. Besides that the Lord really abides there, for it has true saints among its children, it is delightful also with its ponds, its immemorial trees, its distant solitude, far in the woods.”

”Yes, but,” observed Durtal, ”the life there must be unbending, for La Trappe is the most rigid order which has been imposed on men.”

For his only answer the abbe let go Durtal's arm, and took both his hands.

”Do you know,” he said, looking him in the face, ”it is there you must go for your conversion?”

”Are you serious, Monsieur l'Abbe?”

And as the priest pressed his hands more strongly Durtal cried,--

”Ah, no indeed, first I have not the stoutness of soul, and if that be possible I have still less the bodily health needed for such a course, I should fall ill on my arrival, and then ... and then....”

”And then, what? I am not proposing to you to shut you up for ever in a cloister.”

”So I suppose,” said Durtal, in a somewhat piqued tone.

”But just to remain a week, just the necessary time for a cure. Now a week is soon over, then do you think that if you make such a resolution G.o.d will not sustain you?”

”That is all very fine, but ...”

”Let us speak on the health question, then;” and the abbe smiled a smile of pity that was a little contemptuous.

”I can promise you at once that as a retreatant, you will not be bound to lead the life of a Trappist in its austerest sense. You need not get up at two in the morning for Matins, but at three, or even at four o'clock, according to the day.”

And smiling at the face Durtal made, the abbe went on,--

”As to your food it will be better than that of the monks; naturally you will have no fish nor meat, but you may certainly have an egg for dinner, if vegetables are not enough for you.”

”And the vegetables, I suppose, are cooked with salt and water, and no seasoning?”

”No, they are dressed with salt and water only on fasting days; at other times you will have them cooked in milk and water, or in oil.”

”Many thanks,” said Durtal.

”But all that is excellent for your health,” continued the priest, ”you complain of pains in the stomach, sick headaches, diarrhoea, well, this diet, in the country, in the air, will cure you better than all the drugs you take.

”Now let us leave, if you like, your body out of the question, for in such a case, it is G.o.d's part to act against your weakness. I tell you, you will not be ill at La Trappe, that were absurd; it would be to send the penitent sinner away, and Jesus would not then be the Christ; but let us talk of your soul. Have the courage to take its measure, to look it well in the face. Do you see that?” said the abbe after a silence.

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