I beg him to resume his seat." The Abbe raised his eyebrows slightly, but obeyed.

The others also sat down, quite satisfied.

They had little faith in the Abbe's discretion, and it would have been a great misfortune had he left _ab irato_.

Father Salvati resumed his discourse.
He was opposed to giving an eminently intellectual character to the movement of reform, not so much on account of the danger from Rome as of the danger of troubling the simple faith of a multitude of quiet souls.
He wished the Union to set itself first of all a great moral task, that of bringing back the faithful to the practice of gospel teachings.

To illumine hearts was, in his eyes, the first duty of those who aspired to illumine minds.