" 'Come, now, hold your tongue, you madman!' said the other. 'I must leave you. There is some money.'

" 'What do you expect from a monk? Do you imagine that I am rich?'

" 'Your Carmelites are; and you can do what you like with them.'

" 'I might give you more, but I would rather not. As soon as you got a couple of louis you would be off for a debauch, and make enough row to betray yourself.'

" 'And if you want me to quit this part of the country for some time, what do you suppose I am to travel with?'

" 'Three times already I have given you enough to take you away, haven't I? And each time you have come back, after drinking it all in the first place of ill-fame on the frontier of the province! Your impudence sickens me, after the evidence given against you, when the police are on the watch, when Bernard is appealing for a fresh trial. You may be caught at any moment!'

" 'That is for you to see to, brother. You can lead the Carmelites by the nose; and the Carmelites can lead the bishop, through some little peccadillo, I suppose, done together on the quiet in the convent after supper . . .' "

Here the president interrupted Patience.