Turn back to
the bosom of the church before it is too late."
Maurice sat silent with look downcast. His firmness was not shaken; he
had no inclination to reconsider his decision, but he was deeply moved
by the emotion of the other. He could not bear to meet pleading so
affectionate with a cold negative.
"It is for yourself that I appeal to you," the priest went on. "It is
for the good of your own soul, and for your happiness in this world and
the world to come. Think of your mission. Think how men need you; of
the sin and the error that cry out to Heaven, and of how few there are
to do the Lord's work. You have been confused by the temptations of the
world, and in all of us there is a selfish spirit that may lead us to
do in a moment of madness what we shall repent with tears of blood all
our lives."
Still Maurice could not answer; and the Father, bending still nearer,
taking one of the young man's hands in both his own, still pleaded.
"You have said that you felt my interest in you. Do not give me the
bitterness of feeling that I am a careless shepherd who has lost a lamb
to the wolves. If you have gone astray it must be in part my fault; it
must be my negligence.
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