"Yes; that was as much as we could afford, and as much as we desired to give," returned Father Ganton. "Doubtless, the man made a great fuss about the commission to frighten other people off and to advertise his own importance; but that, as he will tell you, was our limit. One thing, however, I ought to put right at once, and I hope if either of you gentlemen gets the chance you will do this for the Society of Jesus in England. Had we had any ghost of a suspicion at the time that that dealer came to us that those manuscripts had any diplomatic importance whatever we should not have arranged to offer one penny for them. Our work, as our founder, St Ignatius, lays down in the first of his spiritual exercises, is the salvation of souls, not the `sick hurry, the divided arms, the hearts o'ertaxed, the palsied arms,' as Matthew Arnold points out, of the man of the world, eager only about fortune. We don't want, we would not have, any distractions from this object; and I beg you to believe that, and so in your small way help to put public opinion right about the Jesuits of England." "One question," I interrupted earnestly as the priest held out his hand in farewell to us. "Don't be annoyed, please, if I ask it. I admit it may sound horribly rude, but, indeed, I don't mean it to be so in that way at all. Why are you Jesuits so heartily disliked, not only in England, but in Italy, in Spain, in France, in Germany, and also in South America?" The priest turned and looked at me with a frank and sincere expression. "Excuse me," he said, "but do you ask that question as a man without any sectarian bias, as one with a genuine desire for information, and to learn only the truth?" "Indeed I do," I returned, and I gazed at him straight in the face. "Well, I will answer it, then," he responded, "and I will answer it in the way which we Jesuits answer it when we fall to talking about the hostility we read about but really seldom encounter. The point admits of two solutions, and of two solutions alone. One, either we are bad, mischievous people, who deserve expulsion and hatred; or, two, God really did answer that early prayer of our founder, St Ignatius of Loyola, that we should be a persecuted and misunderstood Order as long as time should last, so that we should be always kept united, resolute, and efficient. Now of those two replies you can take your choice. Each one is sufficient in itself--each will give you an excellent and a thoroughly adequate reason--and in both Christian and heathen will find their points of view meet with equal consideration and tolerance!" And with a grave bow to me and a hand that made the sign of the cross over Casteno he turned away and left our cell. For some minutes afterwards we neither of us uttered a word. Both sat and looked at each other, and I am sure I don't know who was the more puzzled or confounded. "That rules the Jesuits out," I said at length, kicking the bedstead viciously with my foot.