He found Opal, and a tall, handsome young man in clerical vestments, sitting together upon the broad vine-shaded veranda. The girl greeted him cordially and introduced him to the priest, Father Whitman.
At first Paul dared not trust himself to look at Opal too closely, and he did not notice that her face grew ashen at his approach. She had recovered her usual self-possession when he finally looked at her, and now the only apparent sign of unusual agitation was a slight flush upon her cheek--an excited sparkle in her eye--which might have been the effect of many causes.
He watched the priest curiously. How noble-looking he was! He felt sure that he would have liked him in any other garb. What did his presence here portend?
Paul had supposed that Opal was a Catholic; indeed had been but little concerned what she professed. She had never appeared to him to be specially religious, but, if she was, that absurd idea of self-sacrifice for a dead mother she had never known might appeal to the love of penance which is inherent in all of Catholic faith, and she might not surrender to her great love for him.
"Yes--tomorrow! And"--she suddenly threw herself upon her knees at his feet--"your blessing, Father" she begged.
The priest laid a hand upon her head, and raised his eyes to Heaven. Then, making the sign of the cross upon her forehead, he took her hands in his, and gently raised her to her feet. She clung to his hands imploringly.
He hesitated, his face quivering with emotions his eyes lustrous with tears, a world of feeling in every line of his countenance.
"Child," he said hoarsely, "child! Don't tempt me!"
"But you _must_ say it, you know, or what will happen to me?"
The priest still hesitated, but her eyes would not release him till he whispered, "_Absolvo te_, my daughter, and--God bless you!"
And releasing her hands, he bowed formally to Paul and hurried down the broad stone steps and through the gate.
Opal watched him, a smile, half-remorseful and half-triumphant, upon her face.
"What does it all mean?" asked Paul as he laid his hand upon her arm.
She laughed nervously. "Oh--nothing! Only--when I see one of those long, clerical cassocks, I am immediately seized with an insane desire to find the _man_ inside the priest!"