Wilkie Collins

The Black Robe Wilkie Collins

SHORTLY after noon, on the next day, we were established at Boulogne-near Lady Berrick, butnot at her hotel. "If we live in the same house," Romayne reminded me, "we shall be bored by thecompanion and the doctor. Meetings on the stairs, you know, and exchanging bows and small talk."He hated those trivial conventionalities of society, in which, other people delight. When somebodyonce asked him in what company he felt most at ease? he made a shocking answer-he said, "In thecompany of dogs."I waited for him on the pier while he went to see her ladyship. He joined me again with hisbitterest smile. "What did I tell you? She is not well enough to see me to-day. The doctor looksgrave, and the companion puts her handkerchief to her eyes. We may be kept in this place for weeksto come."The afternoon proved to be rainy. Our early dinner was a bad one. This last circumstance tried histemper sorely. He was no gourmand; the question of cookery was (with him) purely a matter ofdigestion. Those late hours of study, and that abuse of tea to which I have already alluded, had sadlyinjured his stomach. The doctors warned him of serious consequences to his nervous system, unlesshe altered his habits. He had little faith in medical science, and he greatly overrated the restorativecapacity of his constitution. So far as I know, he had always neglected the doctors' advice. The weather cleared toward evening, and we went out for a walk. We passed a church-a RomanCatholic church, of course-the doors of which were still open. Some poor women were kneeling attheir prayers in the dim light. "Wait a minute," said Romayne. "I am in a vile temper. Let me try toput myself into a better frame of mind."I followed him into the church. He knelt down in a dark corner by himself. I confess I wassurprised. He had been baptized in the Church of England; but, so far as outward practice wasconcerned, he belonged to no religious community. I had often heard him speak with sincerereverence and admiration of the spirit of Christianity-but he never, to my knowledge, attended anyplace of public worship. When we met again outside the church, I asked if he had been converted tothe Roman Catholic faith.