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 "I have indeed been wandering about," replied the other, "and with very little satisfaction to myself. To this house I was directed from a neighbouring convent; both houses are so remote, so impervious, even to the eye of curiosity, from the woods and deep valleys, that only a wretched fugitive, like myself, could possibly have found it."

"If you are unhappy, my son, I am sorry for you, but yield not to despair; hope is implanted in the mind of man by our great Creator as the sweetener of life, and only one set of beings are excluded from that cordial drop in earthly pursuits."

"And who are those?" asked Ferdinand.

"Men and women devoted to a monastic life," answered the Father; "cut off from every worldly expectation, their hopes are founded in heavenly promises which can receive no disappointment but from themselves; they depend not on others; no earthly views can distract their attention from the one great object of their wishes: Happiness unalloyed