Their very remembrance filled his soul with ecstasy; he cursed his foolish vanity, which had induced him to waste in obscurity the bloom of life, ignorant of the blessings of love and woman. He determined at all events to continue his commerce with Matilda, and called every argument to his aid which might confirm his resolution. He asked himself, provided his irregularity was unknown, in what would his fault consist, and what consequences he had to apprehend? By adhering strictly to every rule of his order save chastity, he doubted not to retain the esteem of men, and even the protection of heaven. He trusted easily to be forgiven so slight and natural a deviation from his vows: but he forgot that having pronounced those vows, incontinence, in laymen the most venial of errors, became in his person the most heinous of crimes.