Then life itself became intolerable to Gerard, and one night, in resolute despair, he flung himself into the river.  But he was not allowed to drown, and was carried, all unconscious, to the Dominican convent.  Gerard awoke to find Father Jerome by his bedside.

“Good Father Jerome, how came I hither?” he inquired.

“By the hand of Heaven!  You flung away God’s gift.  He bestowed it on you again.  Think of it!  Hast tried the world and found its gall.  Now try the Church!  The Church is peace.  Pax vobiscum!”

Gerard learnt that the man who had saved him from drowning was a professional assassin.

Saved from death by an assassin!

Was not this the finger of Heaven—­of that Heaven he had insulted, cursed, and defied?

He shuddered at his blasphemies.  He tried to pray, but found he could only utter prayers, and could not pray.

“I am doomed eternally!” he cried.  “Doomed, doomed!” Then rose the voices of the choir chanting a full service.  Among them was one that seemed to hover above the others—­a sweet boy’s voice, full, pure, angelic.

He closed his eyes and listened.  The days of his own boyhood flowed back upon him.

“Ay,” he sighed, “the Church is peace of mind.  Till I left her bosom I ne’er knew sorrow, nor sin.”

And the poor torn, worn creature wept; and soon was at the knees of a kind old friar, confessing his every sin with sighs and groans of penitence.

And, lo!  Gerard could pray now, and he prayed with all his heart.

He turned with terror and aversion from the world, and begged passionately to remain in the convent.  To him, convent nurtured, it was like a bird returning wounded, wearied, to its gentle nest.

He passed his novitiate in prayer and mortification and pious reading and meditation.

And Gerard, carried from the Tiber into that convent a suicide, now passed for a young saint within its walls.

Upon a shorter probation than usual, he was admitted to priests’ orders, and soon after took the monastic vows, and became a friar of St. Dominic.

Dying to the world, the monk parted with the very name by which he had lived in it, and so broke the last link of association with earthly feelings.  Here Gerard ended, and Brother Clement began.

The zeal and accomplishments of Clement, especially his rare mastery of language, soon transpired, and he was destined to travel and preach in England, corresponding with the Roman centre.

It was rather more than twelve months later when Clement and Jerome set out for England.  They reached Rotterdam, and here Jerome, impatient because his companion lingered on the way, took ship alone, and advised Clement to stop awhile and preach to his own countrymen.