scaffolds on which your fathers died for the faults of their fathers.
To do good humbly, in obscurity, in country solitudes, as Rigou now
does evil,--ah! that indeed is prayer in action and dear to God. If in
every district three souls only would work for good, France, our
country, might be saved from the abyss that yawns; into which we are
rushing headlong, through spiritual indifference to all that is not
our own self-interest. Change! you must change your morals, change
your ethics, and that will change your laws."

Though deeply moved as she listened to this grand utterance of true
catholic charity, the countess answered in the fatal words, "We will
consider it,"--words of the rich, which contain that promise to the
ear which saves their purses and enables them to stand with arms
crossed in presence of all disaster, under pretext that they were
powerless.

Hearing those words, the abbe bowed to Madame de Montcornet and turned
off into a path which led him direct to the gate of Blangy.

"Belshazzar's feast is the everlasting symbol of the dying days of a
caste, of an oligarchy, of a power!" he thought as he walked away. "My
God! if it be Thy will to loose the poor like a torrent to reform
society, I know, I comprehend, why it is that Thou hast abandoned the
wealthy to their blindness!"



CHAPTER XII

SHOWETH HOW THE TAVERN IS THE PEOPLE'S PARLIAMENT