nothing is achieved without enthusiasm!' And then
he would talk of the warrior-saints, and would go
on to tell of the warlike Crusaders.
Thus it was coming to pass that Jan, who had
been an impetuous and hot-tempered baby, was
grafting his natural dispositions onto his Christianity,
as is not infrequently the way with Christians. He
saw his Lord and the death of his Lord through the
eyes of a childish but eager avenger. And since all
that the Cure now inculcated would fall into line
with the boy's own instincts, his tuition continued
without a hitch, to the deep satisfaction of himself
and his master. But it must be admitted in fairness
to Jan, that he was a splendidly conscientious pupil.
§2
At about this time the Cure Martel dared to open a
much worn and closely written diary, on nearly every
page of which there occurred a certain name —
Genevieve d'Arlanges. And as the Cure reread his
own words he marvelled to remember his turbulent
passion, to remember how grievously he had suffered,
and he thought:
"After all, I — yes, even I — have not failed alto-
gether to serve my Lord.5 Which wa,s surely the truth,
in view of that diary. Then he thought: 'Genevieve
. . . she must now be quite old.' And this gave him a
little pang of regret, for even those whom we have
long ceased to love — either from a sense of duty
towards God, or because of the fickleness of our
bodies — even those whom we have long ceased to
love, we yet wish to protect from the cruelty of age,
although we ourselves may have been no less cruel.
cYes,' he thought, eshe must now be as old as I am.'
His mind slipped back over the inadequate years
at Saint Loup until he was once more in Paris, a man
114 :