Then the matter as to the oblates must be cleared up; if the Abbe Plomb is well informed, their fate depends on the caprice of the Abbot, who can tighten or loosen the halter according to his more or less domineering character.

But is that quite certain?
There were always oblates throughout the Middle Ages; consequently they are controlled by the secular law! "And all this is so human, so vile! For it is not a matter of disputing texts and more or less accommodating clauses.

It is a case of subjection without reserve, of leaping boldly into the water; of giving oneself up entirely to God.

Any other view of the cloister is to regard it as a citizen's home, and that is absurd.

My apprehensions, my antagonism, my compromises, are disgraceful! "Yes; but where can I find the necessary strength to brush myself clean from this dust of the soul ?" And at last, when he felt himself bruised by these alternating desires and fears, he took refuge with Notre Dame de Sous-Terre.
The crypt was closed in the afternoon, but he found his way in by a small door in the sacristy inside the cathedral, and descended into utter darkness.
Having reached the crypt in front of the altar, he round once more the doubtful but soothing odour of that vault, smoked by burning tapers, and went forward in the soft, warm atmosphere of frankincense and a cellar.
It was even darker than in the early morning, for the lamps were out; floating wicks only, shining through what looked like very thin orange-peel, threw gleams of tarnished gold on the sooty walls.
As he turned, with his back to the altar, he could see the low aisle in retreating perspective, and at the end, as in a tunnel, the light of day--unluckily, for it allowed him to discern certain hideous paintings of scenes commemorating the ecclesiastical glories of Chartres: the visit paid to the cathedral by Mary de' Medici and Henri IV.; Louis XIII.