in exchange, and a whole day he stood there, fasting, with outstretched
hand. The act was a great victory, the triumph of compassion over
natural pride. Returning to Assisi, he doubled his kindnesses to those
of whom he had truly the right to call himself the brother. With such
sentiments he could not long escape the influence of the Church.

On all the roadsides in the environs of the city there were then, as
now, numerous chapels. Very often he must have heard mass in these
rustic sanctuaries, alone with the celebrant. Recognizing the tendency
of simple natures to bring home to themselves everything that they hear,
it is easy to understand his emotion and agitation when the priest,
turning toward him, would read the gospel for the day. The Christian
ideal was revealed to him, bringing an answer to his secret anxieties.
And when, a few moments later, he would plunge into the forest, all his
thoughts would be with the poor carpenter of Nazareth, who placed
himself in his path, saying to him, even to him, "Follow thou me."

Nearly two years had passed since the day when he felt the first shock;
a life of renunciation appeared to him as the goal of his efforts, but
he felt that his spiritual novitiate was not yet ended. He suddenly
experienced a bitter assurance of the fact.

He was riding on horseback one day, his mind more than ever possessed
with the desire to lead a life of absolute devotion, when at a turn of
the road he found himself face to face with a leper. The frightful
malady had always inspired in him an invincible repulsion. He could not
control a movement of horror, and by instinct he turned his horse in
another direction.

If the shock had been severe, the defeat was complete. He reproached