of the chapel in the hospital, to which repeated reference has already
been made. It was insisted on behalf of these ladies that a promise had
been given, taking, indeed, the form of a vow, that, as soon as we were
again in possession of Semur, their full privileges should be restored
to them. Their advocates even went so far as to send to me a deputation
of those who had been nursed in the hospital, the leader of which was
Jacques Richard, who since he has been, as he says, 'converted,' thrusts
himself to the front of every movement.

'Permit me to speak, M. le Maire,' he said; 'me, who was one of those so
misguided as to complain, before the great lesson we have all received.
The mass did not disturb any sick person who was of right dispositions.
I was then a very bad subject, indeed--as, alas! M. le Maire too well
knows. It annoyed me only as all pious observances annoyed me. I am now,
thank heaven, of a very different way of thinking----'

But I would not listen to the fellow. When he was a _mauvais sujet_ he
was less abhorrent to me than now.

The men were aware that when I pronounced myself so distinctly on any
subject, there was nothing more to be said, for, though gentle as a
lamb and open to all reasonable arguments, I am capable of making the
most obstinate stand for principle; and to yield to popular
superstition, is that worthy of a man who has been instructed? At the
same time it raised a great anger in my mind that all that should be
thought of was a thing so trivial. That they should have given
themselves, soul and body, for a little money; that they should have
scoffed at all that was noble and generous, both in religion and in
earthly things; all that was nothing to them. And now they would insult
the great God Himself by believing that all He cared for was a little