“`Q.—­Is it true that you refused a set of silver-gilt sacramental vessels, and other ornaments, with which one of the faithful, in pious zeal, wished to endow your parish?

“`A.—­I refused the vessels and embellishments, because the house of the Lord should be plain and without ornament, so as to remind the faithful that the divine Saviour was born in a stable.  I advised the person who wished to make these useless presents to my parish to employ the money in judicious almsgiving, assuring him it would be more agreeable to the Lord.’”

“What a bitter and violent declamation against the adorning of our temples!” cried the cardinal.  “This young priest is most dangerous.  Continue, my good father.”

And, in his indignation, his Eminence swallowed several mouthfuls of strawberry-cream.  Father d’Aigrigny continued.

“`Q.—­Is it true that you received in your parsonage, and kept there for some days, an inhabitant of the village, by birth a Swiss, belonging to the Protestant communion?  Is it true that not only you did not attempt to convert him to the one Catholic and Apostolic faith, but that you carried so far the neglect of your sacred duties as to inter this heretic in the ground consecrated for the repose of true believers?

“`A.—­One of my brethren was houseless.  His life had been honest and laborious.  In his old age his strength had failed him, and sickness had come at the back of it; almost in a dying state, he had been driven from his humble dwelling by a pitiless landlord, to whom he owed a year’s rent.  I received the old man in my house, and soothed his last days.  The poor creature had toiled and suffered all his life; dying, he uttered no word of bitterness at his hard fate; he recommended his soul to God and piously kissed the crucifix.  His pure and simple spirit returned to the bosom of its Creator.  I closed his eyes with respect, I buried him, I prayed for him; and, though he died in the Protestant faith, I thought him worthy of a place in consecrated ground.’”

“Worse and worse!” said the cardinal.  “This tolerance is monstrous.  It is a horrible attack on that maxim of Catholicism:  `Out of the pale of the Church there is no salvation.’”

“And all this is the more serious, my lord,” resumed Father d’Aigrigny, “because the mildness, charity, and Christian devotion of Abbe Gabriel have excited, not only in his parish, but in all the surrounding districts, the greatest enthusiasm.  The priests of the neighboring parishes have yielded to the general impulse, and it must be confessed that but for his moderation a wide-spread schism would have commenced.”

“But what do you hope will result from bringing him here?” said the prelate.

“The position of Abbe Gabriel is complicated; first of all, he is the heir of the Rennepont family.”

“But has he not ceded his rights?” asked the cardinal.