"I say to him--'Alan, give her some books.' Why, they always give people books to read! 'Or get Father Leadham to talk to her.' What's the good of a man like Father Leadham--so learned, and such manners!--if he can't talk to a girl like Laura? But no, Alan won't. He says we must let her alone--and wait God's time!--And there's no altering him, as you know." Father Bowles pondered a little, then said with a mild perplexity: "I find, in my books, that a great many instances are recorded of holy wives--or even betrothed--who were instrumental under God in procuring the conversion of their unbelieving husbands--or--or lovers, if I may use such a word to a lady. But I cannot discover any of an opposite nature. There was the pious Nonna, for instance, the mother of the great St. Gregory Nazianzen, who converted her husband so effectually that he became a bishop, and died at the age of ninety." "What became of her?" inquired Augustina hastily. The priest hesitated. "It is a very curious case--and, I understand, much disputed. Some people suppose that St. Gregory was born after his father became a bishop, and many infidel writers have made use of the story for their own malicious purposes. But if it was so, the Church may have allowed such a departure from her law, at a time of great emergency and in a scarcity of pastors. But the most probable thing is that nothing of the kind happened--" he drew himself up with decision--"that the father of St. Gregory had separated from his wife before he became a bishop--and that those writers who record the birth of St. Gregory during the episcopate of his father were altogether mistaken." "At any rate, I really don't see how it helps us!" said Augustina. Father Bowles looked a little crestfallen. "There is one other case that occurs to me," he said timidly. "It is that of St. Amator, Bishop of Auxerre. He was desired by his parents to marry Martha, a rich young lady of his neighbourhood. But he took her aside, and pressed upon her the claims of the ascetic life with such fervour that she instantly consented to renounce the world with him. She therefore went into a convent; and he received the tonsure, and was in due time made Bishop of Auxerre." "Well, I assure you, I should be satisfied with a good deal less than that in Laura's case!" said Augustina, half angry, half laughing. Father Bowles said no more. His mind was a curious medley of scraps from many quarters--from a small shelf of books that held a humble place in his little parlour, from the newspapers, and from the few recollections still left to him of his seminary training. He was one of the most complacently ignorant of men; and it had ceased to trouble him that even with Augustina he was no longer of importance.