“As to the virtues antithetical to these vices, humility may be typified by the ox and the ass; indifference to worldly possessions by the pelican, the emblem of the contemplative life; chastity by the dove and the elephant, though it is true that this interpretation of Peter of Capua is contradicted by other mystics, who accuse the elephant of pride, and speak of him as an ‘enormous sinner’; charity by the lark and the pelican; temperance by the camel, which, taken in another sense, typifies under the name of gamal extravagant fury; vigilance by the lion, the peacock, the ant—­quoted by the Abbess Herrade and the Anonymous monk of Clairvaux—­and especially by the cock, to which Saint Eucher attributes this virtue in common with all other symbolists.

“I may add that the dove alone epitomizes all these qualities and is the synthesis of all virtue.”

“Yes, and she alone is never spoken of as having any evil significance.”

“A distinction she shares with white and blue, the only colours which are exempt from the law of antithesis and are never ascribed to any vice,” said Durtal.

“The dove!” cried Madame Bavoil, who was changing the plates; “she plays a beautiful part in the story of Noah’s Ark.  Ah! our friend, you should hear what Mother Jeanne de Matel says of her.”

“What does she say, Madame Bavoil?”

“The admirable Jeanne begins by saying that original sin produced in human nature the deluge of sin from which the Virgin alone was exempted by the Father, who chose Her to be His one Dove.

“Then she relates how Lucifer, represented by the raven, escaped from the ark through the window of free will; then God, to whom Mary had belonged from all eternity, opened the window of the Will of His Providence, and from His own bosom, from the heavenly Ark, He sent the original dove on the earth where she gathered a spray of the olive of His mercy, took her flight back to the Ark of Heaven, and offered this branch for the whole human race; She then implored Divine grace to abate the deluge of sin, and besought the Heavenly Noah to descend from that high Ark; then, without quitting the bosom of the Father from whom He is inseparable, He came down.”

“Et Verbum caro factum est et habitavit in nobis,” the Abbe Gevresin added, in conclusion.

“This prefiguration of the Word by Noah is certainly curious,” remarked Durtal.

“Animals are also introduced in the iconography of the saints,” the Abbe Plomb resumed.  “So far as I can recollect, the ass is the attribute of Saint Marcellus, of Saint John Chrysostom, of Saint Germain, of Saint Aubert, of Saint Frances of Rome, and of some others; the stag of Saint Hubert and Saint Rieul; the cock of Saint Landry and Saint Vitus; the raven of Saint Benedict, Saint Apollinarius, Saint Vincent, Saint Ida, Saint Expeditus; the deer of Saint Henry; the wolf of Saint Waast, Saint Norbert, Saint Remaclus, and Saint Arnold; the spider betokens Saint