Rather than receive aid from his uncle, and waiving his claim in favor
of his younger brother, this son, although with reluctance, decided to
enter the priesthood, for he was a singularly religious young man. But
Father Pujol, in his capacity as priest, combined, in a marked degree,
the wisdom of the serpent with the harmlessness of the dove. He had a
deeply rooted aversion to the custom of women sequestering themselves
from the world behind the walls of a convent; and it had been his habit,
whenever opportunity offered, to dissuade any who, by so doing, might
leave a void in the world. Indeed, he had been so zealous in one or two
cases that the suspicions of his fellow-brethren had been aroused, and,
eventually, he was selected to make one of a company of Franciscans to
the new province. Therefore, on hearing for the first time what
Apolinaria meditated doing, he felt almost angry with her, foolish and
unreasonable though he knew he was.
"My blessed child!" he exclaimed, "what has made you think of such a
thing?"
"I know not, Father," replied Apolinaria, "but it seemed to have been
put into my mind by the saints in Heaven that that was what I should do;
and I believe that must be what I was destined for when I was found by
the dear sisters, forsaken and starving, and was taken to the asylum.
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