This is what old Isaac said to Cassian: 'Pray briefly and often, lest, if your orisons be long, the enemy will come to disturb them.

Follow these two rules, they will save you from secret upheaval.
"So, go in peace; and if any trouble should overtake you, do not hesitate to consult the Abbe Plomb." "Eh, our friend," cried Madame Bavoil, laughing, "and you might also cure yourself of wandering thoughts by the method employed by the Abbess of Sainte-Aure when she chanted the Psalter: she sat in a chair of which the back was garnished with a hundred long nails, and when she felt herself wandering she pressed her shoulder firmly against the points; there is nothing better, I can tell you, for bringing folks back to reality and recalling their wandering attention." "Thank you, indeed!" "There is another thing," she went on, not laughing now.

"You ought to postpone your departure for a day or two; for the day after to-morrow is a festival of the Virgin.

They expect pilgrims from Paris, and the shrine containing our Mother's veil will be carried in procession through the streets." "Oh no!" cried Durtal, "I have no love for worship in common.

When our Lady holds these solemn assizes to gel out of the way.