‘atheist,’ came to persuade them out of darkness into light, and made the burdens of their living lighter to bear.  And will you not admit him as a Christian?  Surely he must be; for as our Lord Himself declares, ’Not every man that shall say unto Me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.’  And of a certainty, the will of the Father is that the lost should be found, the perishing saved, the despairing comforted,—­and all these things Aubrey Leigh has done, and is yet doing.  But I do not work with him—­I am here to look on—­and looking on, to regret my lost youth!

“Touching the miracle attributed to me at Rouen, I have gone over this ground so often with Your Holiness, both by letter and personally while in Rome, that it seems but foolish to repeat the story of my complete innocence in the matter.  I prayed for the crippled child, and laid my hands upon him in blessing.  From that day I never saw him—­never have seen him again.  I can bear no witness to his recovery,—­your news came from persons at Rouen, and not from me.  I am as unconscious of having healed the child as I am innocent of having any part in the disappearance of the man Claude Cazeau.  The whole thing is as complete a mystery to me as it is to Your Holiness or to any of those who have heard the story.  I fully and freely admit, as I have always fully and freely admitted, that I condoned and forgave the sin of the Abbe Vergniaud, and this, not only because the man was dying, but because we are strictly commanded to forgive those who truly repent.  And on this point, I cannot even to you, Most Holy Father, admit that I have been wrong.

“And now coming to the last part of Your Holiness’ expressed desire, wherein you ask me to part from the boy I rescued,—­the child Manuel, who is all alone in the world,—­I cannot acknowledge it to be a Christian act to desert anyone whom we have once befriended.  The boy is young, and far too gentle to fight the world or to meet with such love and consideration as his youth and simplicity deserve.  I will not disguise, however, from Your Holiness that I have been often much troubled in mind regarding his companionship with me,—­for foolish as you may judge my words, I feel that there is something in him not altogether of earth,—­that he speaks at times as a wise prophet might speak,—­or as an Angel sent to warn the world of swiftly-coming disaster!  Of the strangely daring spirit in which he addressed himself to Your Holiness at the Vatican it is not for me to discourse—­I cannot explain it or condone it, for I was overcome with amazement and fear, and realized the position no more than did Your Holiness at the time, or than did those of your confidants immediately around us.  It was indeed a matter that went beyond us all.