Fabiola : or, The church of the catacombs - Digital Repository Services

V i\v we cannot doubt it any lunger :
.1 DO I'llLK X.
we have actually pene-
trated iiiuler the roof of a libre-penxeur.
Only this librc-penscur possesses more merits and virtues
than many people perhaps think. Monsieur Morren that's
his name is only indifferent and forgetful of the worship of his
God he is careless of ; his Christian duties and the destiny of
his immortal soul, but he has, at least, received an excellent
duration in his youth, and has remained an honest man in the
rigorous acceptation of that word. His manners are grave and
reserved, his exterior serious and becoming; his private life
peaceful, honorable, and strictly moral. M. Morren is simply
ii philusophc, with a mind too proud to believe without examination
and reverence mysteries that so much exceed in depth
the narrow limits of his reason.
Nevertheless, he is just and tolerant, and sincerely desires
that all men may be able to guide themselves according to
their lights and the bent of their personal convictions. So he
sees no inconvenience in his wife openly devoting herself to
those holy practices of piety that make an accomplished
Christian woman so worthy an exemplar. In that respect, too,
he leaves full and entire liberty to his only son, Victor, whom
his mother's example encourages and sustains in the way of
salvation, and who, in truth, has nothing of his father's tastes
and leanings but his ardor, his enthusiasm for learning. For
M. Morreu we must repeat and, besides, have we not divined
it from the sight of his library alone was always passionately
devoted to study, to learned researches; and,
this thirst of knowledge, his ardent desire to be his own instructor,
that ended by driving this man of sincere and upright
mind who needed the assistance of a prudent counsellor, a
good guide in the ways of error.
alas ! it was
But when, twenty-five years before, he had received the
hand of the amiable Kos'a Verbruggen, sister of Madame Van
Dael, he was still true to the calm faith of his childhood, to the
holy law of his God ; otherwise the pious Kosa had never resolved
to be his spouse. It was only long after, through a
gradual series of doubts and denials, that the fatal teachings of
a false philosophy succeeded in extinguishing the light of faith
in his soul.
M. Morren had always had a marked predilection for the
study of languages. Of the seven or eight languages that had
been the object of his persevering studies and profound re-
searches, he spoke English, German and Italian with most elegance
and facility. In this respect his son Victor seemed to
have inherited the dispositions and brilliant faculties of his
father.
At the time our story opens, young Morren, absorbed in the
reading of a sublime, a divine poet, was leaning on a little
table in a corner of a gallery, while his father was writing,
seated before his desk. A moment after, the studious young
man laid down his book, and, raising his head, said :
" How sweet and melodious is this beautiful Italian tongue !
And what a poet is Dante ! Let me read these verses to
you? Aren't all the features of the picture reproduced in the
harmonious sounds !"
This sudden interruption could not but be p'easant and
agreeable to paternal ears. M. Morren was passionately fond
of his son, was very proud and pleased when ho saw his dear
Victor devote himself with ardor to his favorite occupation
the study of literature and languages.
The reading of the passage in question, however, was sud-
surprise ! Our goo \ friends from Schrambeck !"
The " Diviua Goiumedia " immediately fell with all its
weight on the table, and Victor, transported with joy, came
forward, and cheerily clasped the hand of Joseph Van Dael,
his cousin and the friend of his childhood.
" What a happiness to see ! you And how are they all at
Sehrambeck '> Your mother, then, is now so well thi.t you
could both leave her ? You came, no doubt, by express ?
Thus they greeted the two young people with such a great
number of questions that they hardly knew which to answer'
" You got our letter, telling you of the happy recovery of
our mother, didn't you
"
Certainly, but we never thought her cure was complete
"
and her convalescence so rapid that
"
It pleased Providence, however, dear aunt; otherwise we
? "
shouldn't have had the great pleasure of embracing you to-
day."
|
"
Meanwhile, be seated, my children," interrupted M. Mor-
ren, pulling the bell. " See, we are so surprised, so glad to
see yon, that be even forgot to make you take some refresh-
ment, and rest yourselves. It is indeed a surprise, a pleasure
! Barbara" addressing the servant who made her appearance
at the door, " bring us directly two bottles of the
best wine and some cigars. "
" Yes, sir," replied the good woman, hurrying off as quick
as her old limbs could carry her.
" Barbara, take my cigars, I recommend you," cried out
Victor, after her, following down stairs the good old creature
who had nursed and cared him when he was a child, and
since then cherished a mother's love for him.
' '
Mary and I are going down to the garden," said Madame
Morren. " There's such splendid weather to-day that it will
be a real pleasure for us to rtst under the shade of the arbor,
acd while Joseph will tell you all the particulars of his
mother's happy cure, Mary will tell me."
The two ladies quitted the gallery just as Barbara reap-
peared bringing in the wine and cigars.
"
Our visit seems to have surprised you," said Joseph,
pmiling to both his friends. "I have told you first of all that
the attendance of our servant Kika is amply sufficient for my
mother in the very favorable condition in which she is at present.
But we have another reason, too, for making this little
journey. My dear uncle, my dear Victor, I have come to bid
you farewell perhaps forever. "
" To bid us farewell, Joseph ? How? What has happened,
then ?"
"Very appropriately you have a volume of Dante there on
the table. Well, I am going to see the country of the great
Florentine poet. "
" What ! you're going to ! Italy But what are you going to
do there ?"
"Fight for the Church and against the ^Revolution shed my
blood, sacrifice my life, perhaps, for
"
the holiest of causes.
M. Morren was about to reply, when the conversation was
interrupted a second time by a knock at the door. Alrn.-t im-
mediately, two young men, evidently admitted to the intimacy
of the family, if elegant manners, graceful appearance,
and dressed in the height of the fashion, made their appear-
ance.
" Very good ! Two
more friends !" cried the master of tbe
house. "Good day, Tommaso; welcome, Ernest; come, my
friends, be seated."
:
The v sit of these two new comers, however, did not seem so
agreeable to Victor as to his father. At tlie sight of them a
visible expression of discontentment, perhaps of conteni|.
depicted in his face, although he strove to keep his countenance.
The two strangers began by making their excuses; they had
denly interrupted by a slight bustle outside, and a few discreet
knocks.
" Come in," said M. Morren at once.
And the door opened, and Joseph and Mary, accompanied
by their simply dropped
'good aunt, Madame Morren, appeared on the threshold.
"
Victor," cried the good father joyfully, "here's a pleasant
in to bid good day to their good friends, they
said; but, as M. Morren was then occupied, they would retire,
and not trouble him any longer with the.r presence.
"Upon my honor, you'll d> nothing of the kind," replied the
master of the house, with pleasant courtesy; "you'll surely
give us f-ome minutes a half hour, at least. Corne, my dear
Tiimmaso, I know you are an Italian of the Italians ! Well, I
have the honor to introduce to you my nephew, Joseph Van
J):iel, who purposes vititiug your beautiful country very souu.