After this conversation several days passed without my friend's making his appearance; and I dared not inquire after him, fearing he might possibly have repented of the confidence he had reposed in me, and be desirous of breaking off our intimacy at once. I was however mistaken. He still retained his regard for me; but that which would have been commendable in any one else, was, it appears, in a Jesuit, a fault, a weakness, and contrary to the rules of the Order. The aged spiritual director of the establishment had found the conduct of my friend to be very reprehensible. This old man was not himself the Superior, but the superintendent; he was one of the assistants of the General of the Order, and usually resided at Tivoli, where he was well known as the celebrated Father Sineo. He was the oracle of the Society, and was consulted in all matters of importance. He generally inhabited an apartment secluded from the rest; like those idols of the Church of Rome which are withdrawn from the light of day, and shut up in obscure places, to inspire more veneration; or if placed in a niche, they are covered with a curtain, to guard them from the profane eyes of the multitude; who would go crazy, in their senseless adoration, if they saw them always before their eyes. In like manner, this Father Sineo lived at Tivoli, like the cuckoo in the fable, who delivered his oracular sayings from his hole in the rock, to those who went to consult him. Now, this Reverend Father, seeing the intimacy that subsisted between my friend and myself, and fearing that he might disclose some of the secrets of the Company to me, summoned him into his presence, and told him that it was not befitting that a Jesuit should be seen more than once, in public company with a stranger to the Order; that our friendship might degenerate into familiarity, and so on into mutual confidence, to the danger of the betrayal of the secrets of the Institution. That, in fact, the General of the Order had learned that we were every day walking out together; and although this might not in itself be objectionable, still his Reverence advised him to break off such a public display. My good Jesuit had consequently to make a further sacrifice, and deprive himself of this little solace; he wrote to me on the occasion, assuring me that it was not from any diminution of friendship on his part if he could not meet me as usual. I understood all this perfectly well, and continued my accustomed walks alone. Still my Jesuit was not forbidden to talk with me in private, and it was not long before he came to pay me a visit; when I expressed to him my satisfaction that our conversation had not been overheard. "Oh!" replied he, "Father Sineo would not in that case have let me off so easily. Without doubt, I should have been immediately sent away." "I trust they would have done you no further injury," I observed.