He always seemed to his companions what he actually was, and what he described himself to be in his letters to New York, a cheerful and contented novice.

But, as one of them since expressed it, he was not a "dude" novice, not the very pink of external perfection, and had a long period of interior trial.

He did not exhibit at any time the least hesitancy about his vocation, for his mind was made up.

Yet once, when he took a walk with Brother Walworth to visit a house of Recollects, Franciscans of the strict observance, both he and his companion were greatly struck by that charming poverty which the poor man of Assisi has bequeathed to his children; they did ask each other whether they had not made a mistake.

This question, however, was but the expression of a shadowy doubt, vanishing as suddenly as it had come.
The novice-master was Father Othmann, and he was by universal testimony entirely competent for his place.