The remainder of my confession was short. The stern rebuke I had given him had evidently made that priest blush, if it had not frightened him. He stopped short, and gave me some very good advice which might have done me good, if the deep wounds which his questions had inflicted upon my soul, had not so absorbed my thoughts, as to prevent me from giving attention to what he said. He gave me a short penance and dismissed me. I left the confessional irritated and confused. From the shame of what I had just heard, I dared not raise my eyes from the ground. I went into a corner of the church to do my penance, that is to recite the prayers which he had indicated to me. I remained for a long time in the church. I had need of a calm, after the terrible trial through which I had just passed. But vainly sought I for rest. The shameful questions which had just been asked from me, the new world of iniquity into which I been introduced, the impure phantoms by which my childish head had been defiled, confused and troubled my mind so strongly, that I began to weep bitterly. I left the church only when forced to do so by the shades of night, and came back to my uncle's house, with a feeling of shame and uneasiness, as if I had done a bad action and feared lest I should be detected. My trouble was much increased when my uncle, jestingly, said: "now that you have been to confess, you will be a good boy. But if you are not a better boy, you will be a more learned one, if your confessor has taught you what mine did when I confessed for the first time." I blushed and remained silent. My aunt said: "you must feel happy, now that you have made your confession: do you not?" I gave an evasive answer, but could not entirely conceal the confusion which overwhelmed me. I went to bed early; but I could hardly sleep. I thought that I was the only boy whom the priest had asked these polluting questions: but great was my confusion, the next day when on going to school, I learned that my companions had not been happier than I had been. The only difference was that, instead of being grieved as I was, they laughed at it. "Did the priest ask you this and that," they would demand laughing boisterously; I refused to reply, and said: "are you not ashamed to speak of these things."