They   changed   Joline's   plan   not   a

whit.     She   dressed  herself  a  la  peni-

tente,  slammed  the  door,  and  went  out.
She  hailed  a  fiacre,  fluttered  into  it,  and

32


The


peace  oi  the  place  seemed  reflected  in  her  face.
See  page  zd


A   THOUSAND   YEARS

also  banged  its  door,  so  that  Granville
should  hear  through  the  open  window.
Then  she  rejoiced  in  the  noise  her  vehi
cle  made  clattering  down  the  street.
She  was  soon  in  front  of  the  massive
cathedral  adjoining  the  monastery.  En
tering  the  sanctuary,  she  informed  the
wheezy,  whispering  priest  who  acted  as
door-keeper  that  she  wished  to  make
confession  to  the  prior  himself.  She
was  told  in  breathy  tones  that  this  dig
nitary  never  heard  confessions  from
outsiders.
After  some  more  questions  gaspingly
answered,  she  induced  the  panting  priest
by  means  of  a  large  donation  to  convey
a  message  to  the  prior.  He  was  to  be
told  that  the  confession  she  wished  to
make  concerned  the  sacred  rose-bush,
and  was  of  so  startling  a  nature  that  she
believed  even  His  Holiness  at  Rome
would  not  deem  it  unworthy  his  atten
tion.
Joline,  you  see,  was  still  in  her  high
and  mighty  mood.
33


THE    ROSE-BUSH    OF

The  old  priest  was  gone  a  long  time.
She  sat  in  a  pew  and  waited.  Her
thoughts  wandered  far  and  near  as  she
sat  there,  immobile — just  waiting.
It  was  many  years  since  Joline  had
been  in  sight  of  a  high  altar  and  the
sacred  candles.  Whenever  she  had  here
tofore  visited  a  church,  it  had  been
on  some  high-festival  day,  when  great
crowds  disturbed  the  sense  of  peace.
To-day  she  was  almost  alone  in  the  hal
lowed  dimness  of  the  place — huge  and
somnolent  with  incense  and  with  mystic
colors  from  the  towering  windows.
