CARTHUSIAN MONKS. 31 



sharply the displeasure which this conversation caused 

 him ; there were even in his language some words which 

 lr<l the monk to suppose that M. Biot took him for a kind 

 of spy. As soon as this suspicion had entered his mind, 

 lie quitted us without saying a word, and the next morn- 

 ing I saw him come up early, armed with a light gun. 

 The French monk had preceded him, and had whispered 

 in my ear the danger that threatened my companion. 

 " Join with me," he said, " to turn the young Aragonian 

 monk from his murderous project." I need scarcely say 

 that I employed myself with ardour in this negotiation, 

 in which I had the happiness to succeed. There were 

 here, as must be seen, the materials for a chief of gueril- 

 leros. I should be much astonished if my young monk 

 did not play his part in the war of independence. 



The anecdote which I am about to relate will amply 

 prove that religion was, with the Carthusian monks of 

 the Desierto de las Palmas, not the consequence of ele- 

 vated sentiments, but a mere compound of superstitious 

 practices. 



The scene with the gun, always present to my mind, 

 seemed to make it clear to me that the Aragon monk, if 

 actuated by his passions, would be capable of the most 

 criminal actions. Hence, I had a very disagreeable im- 

 pression when one Sunday, having come down to hear 

 mass, I met this monk, who, without saying a word, con- 

 ducted me by a series of dark corridors into a chapel 

 where the daylight penetrated only by a very small 

 window. There I found Father Trivulce, who prepared 

 himself to say mass for me alone. The young monk as- 

 sisted. All at once, an instant before the consecration, 

 Father Trivulce, turning towards me, said these exact 

 words : " We have permission to say mass with white 



