CHAPTER XVIII

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A STUDY IN GREY.

Manresa--Tropical deluge--Rash judgment--Catalan hills and valleys--Striking approach--Taking time by the forelock--Primitive inn--Strange assembly--Unpleasant alternative--Sebastien--Manresa under a cloud--Wonderful outlines--Disappointing church--Sebastien leads the way--Old-world streets--Picturesque and pathetic--Popular character--"What would you, senor?"--Sebastien's Biblical knowledge at fault--Lesson deferred--A revelation--La Seo--Church cold and lifeless--Cave of Ignatius Loyola--Hermitage of St. Dismas--Juan Chanones--Fasting and penance--Visions and revelations--Spiritual warfare--Eve of the Annunciation--Exchanging dresses--Knight turns monk--Juan Pascual--Loyola comes to Manresa--Fanaticism--Vale of Paradise--"Spiritual Exercises"--Founding the Jesuit Order--Dying to self--The fair Anita--In the convent chapel--Two novices--Vision of angels--The White Ladies--Agonising moment--Another Romeo and Juliet--Back to the hotel--Sebastien disconsolate--"To-morrow the sun will shine"--Building castles in the air--A prophecy fulfilled 263

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