Tell me, Morton, do you repent having turned your attention of late to those graver and more systematic studies which can alone hereafter obtain you distinction ?" "No, father," said I, with a courtly bow, "for the change has gained me your good opinion." A smile, of peculiar and undefinable expression, crossed the thin lips of the priest; he rose, walked to the door, and saw that it was carefully closed.

I expected some important communication, but in vain; pacing the small room to and fro, as if in a musing mood, the Abbe remained silent, till, pausing opposite some fencing foils, which among various matters (books, papers, quoits, etc.) were thrown idly in one corner of the room, he said,-- "They tell me that you are the best fencer in the school--is it so ?" "I hope not, for fencing is an accomplishment in which Gerald is very nearly my equal," I replied.
"You run, ride, leap, too, better than any one else, according to the votes of your comrades ?" "It is a noble reputation," said I, "in which I believe I am only excelled by our huntsman's eldest son." "You are a strange youth," repeated the priest; "no pursuit seems to give you pleasure, and no success to gratify your vanity.

Can you not think of any triumph which would elate you ?" I was silent.
"Yes," cried Montreuil, approaching me,--"yes," cried he, "I read your heart, and I respect it; these are petty competitions and worthless honours.

You require a nobler goal, and a more glorious reward.

He who feels in his soul that Fate has reserved for him a great and exalted part in this world's drama may reasonably look with indifference on these paltry rehearsals of common characters." I raised my eye, and as it met that of the priest, I was irresistibly struck with the proud and luminous expression which Montreuil's look had assumed.