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 fected houses of old. The soldiers of the Cross, who should shun the glance of woman as the eye of a basilisk, live in open sin, not with the females of their own race only, but with the daughters of the accursed heathen and more accursed Jew. Beaumanoir, thou sleepest, up, and avenge our cause!—Slay the sinners, male and female!—Take to thee the brand of Phineas!—The vision fled, Conrade, but as I awaked I could still hear the clank of their mail, and see the waving of their white mantles.—And I will do according to their word, I purify the fabric of the Temple! and the unclean stones in which the plague is, I will remove and cast out of the building."

"Yet bethink thee, reverend father," said Mont-Fitchet, "the stain hath become engrained by time and consuetude; let thy reformation be cautious, as it is just and wise."

"No, Mont-Fitchet—it must be sharp and sudden—the Order is on the crisis of its fate.