"I do not know--I knew nothing of the origin of these lads--but I feel that you are right. It is obvious, indeed, that children, slowly brought up from their earliest years, and sheltered from the world under the shadow of such a sanctuary as this at Chartres, must end in the blossoming of an unique flower." And when Durtal told him of the impression made on him by the angelic service of the Mass, the Abbe smiled. "Though our boys are not unique, they are no doubt rare. Here, the Virgin Herself trains them, and note, the little lad you saw is neither more diligent nor more conscientious than his fellows; they are all alike. Dedicated to the priesthood from the time when they can first understand, they learn quite naturally to lead a spiritual life from their constant intimacy with the services." "What then is the system of this Institution?" "The Foundation of the Clerks of Our Lady dates from 1853, or rather it was reconstituted in that year--for it existed in the Middle Ages--by the Abbe Ychard. Its purpose is to increase the number of priests by admitting poor boys to begin their studies. It receives intelligent and pious children of every nationality, if they are supposed to show any vocation for Holy Orders. They remain in the choir school till they are in the third class, and are then transferred to the Seminary. "Its funds?--are, humanly speaking, nothing, based on trust in Providence, for it has altogether, for the maintenance of eighty pupils, nothing but the pay earned by these children for various duties in the Cathedral, and the profits from a little monthly magazine called 'The Voice of the Virgin,' and finally and chiefly the charity of the faithful. All this does not amount to a very substantial income; and yet, to this day, money has never been lacking." The Abbe rose and went to the window. "Oh, the rain will not cease," said Durtal. "I am very much afraid, Monsieur l'Abbe, that we cannot examine the Cathedral porches to-day." "There is no hurry. Before going into the details of Notre Dame, would it not be well to contemplate it as a whole, and let its general purpose soak into the mind before studying each page of its parts? "Everything lies contained in that building," he went on, waving his hand to designate the church; "the scriptures, theology, the history of the human race, set forth in broad outline. Thanks to the science of symbolism a pile of stones may be a macrocosm. "I repeat it, everything exists within this structure, even our material and moral life, our virtues and our vices. The architect takes us up at the creation of Adam to carry us on to the end of time. Notre Dame of Chartres is the most colossal depository existing of heaven and earth, of God and man. Each of its images is a word; all those groups are phrases--the difficulty is to read them." "But it can be done?"