It is wiser to pray in the house! And these incidents of a supernatural character--pray tell me about them." Don Clemente said they were visions--voices heard in the air.
"Hm! Hm!" ejaculated the Abbot, with a complicated play of wrinkled forehead, eyebrows, and lips, as if he were swallowing a mouthful of vinegar.
"You said his name was--?
His real name ?" "Piero, but when he came here he wished to part with that name, and begged me to give him another.

I chose 'Benedetto'-- it seemed the most appropriate." At this point the Abbot expressed a wish to see Signor Benedetto, and desired Don Clemente to send him to him on the following morning after the office in the choir.

At this Don Clemente was somewhat embarrassed, and had to confess that he could not promise to do so, because, as it happened, the young man had gone out among the hills to pass the night in prayer, and he did not know precisely at what hour he would return.

The Abbot was greatly annoyed, and mumbled a series of reproaches and caustic remarks.

Don Clemente therefore decided to tell him of the meeting with Signora Dessalle, the former mistress; of what had followed on the way home, of his determination to send Benedetto to Jenne, and to oblige him to remain there until the woman had gone.