"Frankly, Claude, I am too much in the dark to help you. Come to me at my church to-morrow morning after mass, with your mind more at rest, and make your confession. Let me see into the bottom of your heart. I cannot talk to a man behind a mask. I can say nothing till I know all." "No, I cannot do that. I must have time. I want solitude and a cell. I want to shake off the husk of the world I have lived in too long. I want to be done with earthly desires. I shall have a new mind when I am in my woollen gown." "Alas, Claude, I doubt, I doubt. Do you remember all we talked about when you were last in this room--a long time ago?" "Yes, I remember." "You remember how I tried to awaken you to the danger of your relations with Mario Provana's wife." "Those are things a man does not forget." "You denied the danger; but you did not deny your love. You gave me your assurance, not as to a priest, but between man and man, that no evil should ever come of that love." "Yes, I remember. I was not afraid of myself. I belong to the great army of triflers and dilettanti--I am not of the stuff that passionate lovers are made of." "But now Death has intervened, and the situation is changed. Two years hence you might marry your cousin without shame to either, without disrespect to the dead. Are you capable of renouncing that hope by burying yourself in a cloister? Are you equal to the sacrifice? Would there be no looking back, no repentance?" "I shall never marry my cousin Vera." "Because she does not love you? Is that the reason?" "No need to enter into details, or to count the cost. I have made up my mind. For once in my life I have a purpose and a will." "You seem in earnest." The words came slowly, like a spoken doubt, and the priest's searching eyes were on the pale face in front of him. The countenance where the refinement of race--a long line of well-born men and women, showed in every lineament. "This sudden resolve of yours is inexplicable," the priest continued in a troubled voice, after a silence that seemed long. "It is not in your temperament or your manner of life, since you came into a man's inheritance, to cut yourself off from all that makes life pleasant to a young man with talent, attractiveness, and independence. I would give much to know your reason for such a step." "Haven't I told you, my dear friend? _Welt Schmerz._ Isn't that enough?"