CHAPTER XVI

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A HIDDEN GENIUS.

Monk's face--Superfluous virtue--"Welcome to Montserrat"--Mean advantage--Exacting but not mercenary--Another Miguel--Missing keys--Singular monk--Hospederia--Uncertainty--Monk's idea of luxury--Rare prospect--Haunted by silence--Father Salvador privileged--Monk sees ghosts--Under Miguel's escort--In the church--Departed glory--The black image--Gothic and Norman outlines--Franciscan monk or ghost?--Vision of the past--Days of persecution--Sensible image--Great community--Harmony of the spheres--Sad cypresses--Life of a hermit--Monk's story--Loving the world--Penitence--Plucked from the burning--Talent developed--A world apart--False interest--Salvador--Temptation and a compromise--Salvador extemporises--"All the magic of the hour"--Salvador's belief--Waiting for manifestations. 227

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