“Even then it would be satisfactory to know whether the walls and pillars at Brou ever were really painted; the contrary seems proven.  But in any case, though a touch of rouge might not ill beseem this curious sanctum, it would not be so at Chartres, for the only suitable hue is the shining, greasy patina, grey turning to silver, stone-colour turning buff—­the colouring given by age, by time helped by accumulated vapours of prayer and the fumes of incense and tapers!”

And Durtal, arguing over his own reflections, ended by reverting, as he always did, to his own person, saying to himself,—­

“Who knows that I may not some day bitterly regret this cathedral and all the sweet meditations it suggests; for, after all, I shall have no more opportunities for such long loitering, such relaxation of mind, since I shall be subject to the discipline of bells ringing for conventual drill if I suffer myself to be locked up in a cloister!

“Who knows whether, in the silence of a cell, I should not miss even the foolish cawing of those black jackdaws that croak without pause,” he went on, looking up with a smile at the cloud of birds that settled on the towers; and he recalled a legend which tells that since the fire in 1836 these birds quit the cathedral every evening at the very hour when the conflagration began, and do not return till dawn, after spending the night in a wood at three leagues from Chartres.

This tale is as absurd as another, also dear to the old wives of the city, and which tells that if you spit on a certain square of stone, set with black cement into the pavement behind the choir, blood will exude.

“Hah, it is you, Madame Bavoil.”

“Yes, our friend, I myself.  I have just been on an errand for the Father, and am going home again to make the soup.  And you, are you packing your trunks?”

“My trunks?”

“Why, are not you going off to a convent?” said she, laughing.

“Would not you like to see it?” exclaimed Durtal.  “Catch me at that!  Enlisting as a private subject to a pious drill, one of a poor squad, whose every movement must mark time, and who, though he is not expected to keep his hands over the seam of his trowsers, is required to hide them under his scapulary—­”

“Ta, ta, ta,” interrupted the housekeeper, “I tell you once more, you are grudging, bargaining with God—­”

“But before coming to so serious a decision it is quite necessary that I should argue all the pros and cons; in such a case some mental litigation is clearly permissible.”

She shrugged her shoulders; and there was such peace in her face, such a glow of flame lurked behind the liquid blackness of her eyes, that Durtal stood looking at her, admiring the honesty and purity of a soul which could thus rise to the threshold of her eyes and come forth in her look.

“How happy you are!” he exclaimed.

A cloud dimmed her eyes, and she looked down.