"Yes; I will think of it."

"And one word more, before Matilda comes in. Remember the vast
importance of having a male heir to Vange Abbey. On these occasions you
may practice with perfect impunity on the ignorance of the men. Tell him
you're sure it's going to be a boy!"



CHAPTER II.

THE SEED IS SOWN.

SITUATED in a distant quarter of the vast western suburb of London,
the house called The Retreat stood in the midst of a well-kept garden,
protected on all sides by a high brick wall. Excepting the grand
gilt cross on the roof of the chapel, nothing revealed externally the
devotional purpose to which the Roman Catholic priesthood (assisted by
the liberality of "the Faithful") had dedicated the building.

But the convert privileged to pass the gates left Protestant England
outside, and found himself, as it were, in a new country. Inside
The Retreat, the paternal care of the Church took possession of him;
surrounded him with monastic simplicity in his neat little bedroom; and
dazzled him with devotional splendor when his religious duties called
him into the chapel. The perfect taste--so seldom found in the modern
arrangement and decoration of convents and churches in southern
countries--showed itself here, pressed into the service of religion,
in every part of the house. The severest discipline had no sordid
and hideous side to it in The Retreat. The inmates fasted on spotless