"Gabrielle, I am glad that you did not stay in the convent. It is a refuge, a blessed retreat, for those who are discouraged, for the weary, the sad at heart; but for the young, the strong, the brave, the world is a better place. It was not for you. You had no vocation." "That is just what Mother Sainte Anne said. She is a dear friend. ’Listen, Gabrielle,’ she said, ’for the voice, the true call that speaks to the heart. You shall know it by the tone, like the clear, pure sound of a bell, to which all the chords of the heart respond; and you will say: "Lo! that is for me." Sometimes the call of love is the voice of God, my dear.’ Yes, she is a true friend, Mother Sainte Anne." "And Michel. He also is a good friend to us, as to my father in the early days." "Oh, Jean, there is something else that I was forgetting. I forget everything now. A treasure, a great treasure." "I could not touch it, Gabrielle." "No, Jean, you could not. But what do you think Michel has done? He has given it to Mother Sainte Anne to found a hospital for poor children, a cause that she has had at heart for many years. The poor children will be happy with Mother Sainte Anne, and she with them. I am so glad that you did not take the gold, Jean. Now it is treasure in Heaven. I call it Mother Sainte Anne’s dowry and my ransom." "Your ransom, Gabrielle? Yes, that is it. How lucky for me that I did not take the treasure!" "And for me, Jean. Oh, how fortunate! I thank God! It was a miracle, almost." "Yes, Gabrielle, but there is a greater miracle, the miracle of your love, and a treasure more precious--yourself." "A treasure, I? Oh no, Jean, only a wilful, wayward girl. Can it be that you love me, Jean? Is it true?" "Gabrielle!" "Jean!" THE TEMPLE PRESS LETCHWORTH, ENGLAND