Very beautiful in Basil's eyes showed the piety and calm which here surrounded him, and his reverence for the founder of this house of peace fell little short of that with which he regarded the Saints in heaven.

Never before--unless it were at certain moments when conversing with the Lady Silvia--had he felt the loveliness of a life in which religion was supreme; and never, assuredly, had there stirred within him a spirit so devout.

He longed to attain unto righteousness, that entire purity of will, which, it now seemed to him, could be enjoyed only in monastic seclusion.

All his life he had heard praise of those who renounced the world; but their merit had been to him a far-off, uncomprehended thing, without relation to himself.

Now he understood.