The bishop thanked God, and told Reilly to be of good courage, for that he thought the hand of Providence was protecting him.
The life they led here was, at all events, quiet and peaceable.

The bishop was a man of singular, indeed of apostolic, piety.

He spent most of the day in meditation and prayer; fasting beyond the powers of his enfeebled constitution: and indeed it was fortunate that Reilly had accompanied him, for so ascetic were his habits that were it not for his entreaties, and the influence which he had gained over him, it is not at all unlikely that his unfortunate malady might have returned.

The neighborhood in which they resided was, as wo have said, remote, and exclusively Catholic; and upon Sundays the bishop celebrated mass upon a little grassy platform--or rather in a little cave, into which it led.

This cave was small, barely large enough to contain a table, which served as a temporary altar, the poor shivering congregation kneeling on the platform outside.