If you had a little more faith，and if you could have been in her cell，she would have cured your leg merely by touching it.
She smiled.
We felt that she was regaining her life in God.
There was something of paradise in that death.'
Fauchelevent thought that it was an orison which she was finishing.
'Amen，'said he.
'Father Fauvent，what the dead wish must be done.'
The prioress took off several beads of her chaplet.
Fauchelevent held his peace.
She went on：——
'I have consulted upon this point many ecclesiastics laboring in Our Lord，who occupy themselves in the exercises of the clerical life，and who bear wonderful fruit.'
'Reverend Mother，you can hear the knell much better here than in the garden.'
'Besides，she is more than a dead woman，she is a saint.'
'Like yourself，reverend Mother.'
'She slept in her coffin for twenty years，by express permission of our Holy Father，Pius VII.——'
'The one who crowned the Emp——Buonaparte.'
For a clever man like Fauchelevent，this allusion was an awkward one.Fortunately，the prioress，completely absorbed in her own thoughts，did not hear it.
She continued：——
'Father Fauvent？'
'Reverend Mother？'
'Saint Didorus，Archbishop of Cappadocia，desired that this single word might be inscribed on his tomb：
Acarus，which signifies，a worm of the earth；this was done.
Is this true？'
'Yes，reverend Mother.'
'The blessed Mezzocane，Abbot of Aquila，wished to be buried beneath the gallows；this was done.'
'That is true.'
'Saint Terentius，Bishop of Port，where the mouth of the Tiber empties into the sea，requested that on his tomb might be engraved the sign which was placed on the graves of parricides，in the hope that passers-by would spit on his tomb.
This was done.The dead must be obeyed.'
'So be it.'
'The body of Bernard Guidonis，born in France near Roche-Abeille，was，as he had ordered，and in spite of the king of Castile，borne to the church of the Dominicans in Limoges，although Bernard Guidonis was Bishop of Tuy in Spain.
Can the contrary be affirmed？'
'For that matter，no，reverend Mother.'
'The fact is attested by Plantavit de la Fosse.'
Several beads of the chaplet were told off，still in silence.The prioress resumed：——
'Father Fauvent，Mother Crucifixion will be interred in the coffin in which she has slept for the last twenty years.'
'That is just.'
'It is a continuation of her slumber.'
'So I shall have to nail up that coffin？'
'Yes.'
'And we are to reject the undertaker's coffin？'
'Precisely.'
'I am at the orders of the very reverend community.'
'The four Mother Precentors will assist you.'
'In nailing up the coffin？
I do not need them.'
'No.In lowering the coffin.'
'Where？'
'Into the vault.'
'What vault？'
'Under the altar.'
Fauchelevent started.
'The vault under the altar？'
'Under the altar.'
'But——'
'You will have an iron bar.'
'Yes，but——'
'You will raise the stone with the bar by means of the ring.'
'But——'
'The dead must be obeyed.
To be buried in the vault under the altar of the chapel，not to go to profane earth；to remain there in death where she prayed while living；such was the last wish of Mother Crucifixion.
She asked it of us；that is to say，commanded us.'
'But it is forbidden.'
'Forbidden by men，enjoined by God.'
'What if it became known？'
'We have confidence in you.'
'Oh！
I am a stone in your walls.'
'The assembled.
The vocal mothers，whom I have just consulted again，and who are now deliberating，have decided that Mother Crucifixion shall be buried，according to her wish，in her own coffin，under our altar.
Think，Father Fauvent，if she were to work miracles here！
What a glory of God for the community！And miracles issue from tombs.'
'But，reverend Mother，if the agent of the sanitary commission——'
'Saint Benoit II.，in the matter of sepulture，resisted Constantine Pogonatus.'
'But the commissary of police——'
'Chonodemaire，one of the seven German kings who entered among the Gauls under the Empire of Constantius，expressly recognized the right of nuns to be buried in religion，that is to say，beneath the altar.'
'But the inspector from the Prefecture——'
'The world is nothing in the presence of the cross.
Martin，the eleventh general of the Carthusians，gave to his order this device：Stat crux dum volvitur orbis.'
'Amen，'said Fauchelevent，who imperturbably extricated himself in this manner from the dilemma，whenever he heard Latin.
Any audience suffices for a person who has held his peace too long.On the day when the rhetorician Gymnastoras left his prison，bearing in his body many dilemmas and numerous syllogisms which had struck in，he halted in front of the first tree which he came to，harangued it and made very great efforts to convince it.
The prioress，who was usually subjected to the barrier of silence，and whose reservoir was overfull，rose and exclaimed with the loquacity of a dam which has broken away：——
'I have on my right Benoit and on my left Bernard.
Who was Bernard？The first abbot of Clairvaux.
Fontaines in Burgundy is a country that is blest because it gave him birth.
His father was named Tecelin，and his mother Alethe.
He began at Citeaux，to end in Clairvaux；he was ordained abbot by the bishop of Chalon-sur-Saone，Guillaume de Champeaux；he had seven hundred novices，and founded a hundred and sixty monasteries；he overthrew Abeilard at the council of Sens in 1140，and Pierre de Bruys and Henry his disciple，and another sort of erring spirits who were called the Apostolics；he confounded Arnauld de Brescia，darted lightning at the monk Raoul，the murderer of the Jews，dominated the council of Reims in 1148，caused the condemnation of Gilbert de Porea，Bishop of Poitiers，caused the condemnation of Eon de l'Etoile，arranged the disputes of princes，enlightened King Louis the Young，advised Pope Eugene III.，regulated the Temple，preached the crusade，performed two hundred and fifty miracles during his lifetime，and as many as thirty-nine in one day.
Who was Benoit？