"But you shall, you shall! And you shall understand the awful responsibility which God thus reposes upon you, when He gives you power to do greater things than He did when He created the world. You shall command the Christ, and He shall come down at your bidding. Ah, _chiquito_, a fortunate boy!" But the lad turned wearily away, without sharing his uncle's enthusiasm. The day before his departure Josè was again conducted before the Archbishop, and after listening to a lengthy résumé of what the Church was about to do for him, and what she expected in return, two solemn vows were exacted from him-- "First," announced the uncle, in low, deliberate tones, "you will solemnly promise your mother and your God that, daily praying to be delivered from the baneful influences which now cause doubt and questioning in your mind, and refraining from voicing them to your teachers or fellow-students, you will strive to accept all that is taught you in Rome, deferring every endeavor to prove the teachings you are to receive until the end of your long course, when, by training and discipline, you shall have so developed in goodness, purity, and power, that you shall be found worthy to receive spiritual confirmation of the great tenets upon which the Holy Roman Catholic Church has been founded and reared." He paused for a moment to catch his breath and let his portentous words sink into the quivering brain of the lad before him. Then he resumed-- "Second, keeping ever in mind your debt of gratitude to the Church, you promise faithfully to finish your course, and at the end offer yourself to the service of God in the holy priesthood." The solemn hush that lay over the room when he finished was broken only by the muffled sobs of the mother. Tender in years, plunged into grief at the impending separation from home and all that he held dear, the boy knelt before the secretary and gave his trembling word to observe these obligations. Then, after he had kissed the Bible and the Archbishop's extended hand, he threw himself upon the floor in a torrent of tears. On the following morning, a bright, sparkling November day, the little Josè, spent with emotion, tore himself from his mother's clinging embrace and set out for Rome, accompanied by his solicitous uncle. "And, _queridito_," were the mother's last words, "I have your promise that never will you voluntarily leave the Church?" The appeal which his beseeching look carried back to her was not granted. He slowly bowed his acquiescence, and turned away. A week later he had entered upon the retreat with which the school year opens in the _Seminario_. CHAPTER 6