"And those purposes, are they not mercy and truth unto our beloved land?"
"They may be; but I know not. They are not revealed. 'Mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant,' that indeed is written."
Carlos sighed, and resumed the thread of his own thought,--
"The wheel turns round, and we with it. Even since I came here it has turned perceptibly. And how it is to turn one step further without bringing us into contact with the solid frame of things as they are, and so crushing us, truly I see not. I see not; but I trust God."
"You allude to these discussions about the sacrifice of the mass now going on so continually amongst us?"
"I do. Hitherto we have been able to work underground; but if doubt must be thrown upon _that_, the thin shell of earth that has concealed and protected us, will break and fall in upon our heads. And then?"
"Already we are all asking, 'And then?'" said Fray Fernando. "There will be nothing before us but flight to some foreign land."
"And how, in God's name, is that to be accomplished? But God forgive me these words; and God keep me, and all of us, from the subtle snare of mixing with the question, 'What is his will?' that other question, 'What will be our fate if we try to do it?' As the noble De Seso said to me, all that matters to us is to be found amongst those who 'follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.' _But he went to Calvary._"
The last words were spoken in so low a tone that Fray Fernando heard them not.
"No matter. Time enough to hear if God himself speaks it in our ears."
Their conversation was interrupted by the entrance of a lay brother, who informed Carlos that a visitor awaited him in the convent parlour. As it was one of the hours during which the rules of the house (which were quite liberal enough, without being lax) permitted the entertainment of visitors, Carlos went to receive his without much delay.
He knew that if the guest had been one of "their own," their loved brethren in the faith, even the attendant would have been well acquainted with his person, and would naturally have named him. He entered the room, therefore, with no very lively anticipations; expecting, at most, to see one of his cousins, who might have paid him the compliment of riding out from the city to visit him.