We must not find fault with his Latin,
which is capital--for a friar!"
"Give it to me. I will keep it as a talisman of safety, and as a
memorial of our friar. Poor fellow!" continued Lady Mabel, "I suppose
the best wish I can return him is, that enthusiasm may carry him, in
sincerity and purity, through the path others have chosen for him."
"He is an impudent fellow!" growled out old Moodie. "You set too great
store, my lady, by this young vagabond!"
"Vagabond!" she exclaimed, with a look and tone of grave rebuke, "I am
afraid, Moodie, if you had met St. Paul wandering through Macedonia
without staff or scrip, or the cloak he left behind at Troas, you
would have found no better title for him."
"Is this man like St. Paul?" asked Moodie, startled at the profane
supposition.
"I do not say so. But the whole order of friars, renouncing worldly
objects, devote themselves to the imitation of the seventy disciples
in Scripture, who were sent out by two and two to evangelize the
Jews."
"I never expected, my lady, to hear you liken these lazy monks to our
Lord's disciples."
"They are not monks, but friars," said Lady Mabel quietly, "and,
without answering for their practice, I cannot but approve of what
they profess.
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