“Yes, I can answer you.  Formerly women smitten with incubacy had frigid flesh even in the month of August.  The books of the specialists bear witness.  But now the majority of the creatures who voluntarily or involuntarily summon or receive the amorous larvae have, on the contrary, a skin that is burning and dry to the touch.  This transformation is not yet general, but tends to become so.  I remember very well that Dr. Johannes, he of whom Gevingey told you, was often obliged, at the moment when he attempted to deliver the patient, to bring the body back to normal temperature with lotions of dilute hydriodate of potassium.”

“Ah!” said Durtal, who was thinking of Mme. Chantelouve.

“You don’t know what has become of Dr. Johannes?” asked Carhaix.

“He is living very much in retirement at Lyons.  He continues, I believe, to cure venefices, and he preaches the blessed coming of the Paraclete.”

“For heaven’s sake, who is this doctor?” asked Durtal.

“He is a very intelligent and learned priest.  He was superior of a community, and he directed, here in Paris, the only review which ever was really mystical.  He was a theologian much consulted, a recognized master of divine jurisprudence; then he had distressing quarrels with the papal Curia at Rome and with the Cardinal-Archbishop of Paris.  His exorcisms and his battles against the incubi, especially in the female convents, ruined him.

“Ah, I remember the last time I saw him, as if it were yesterday.  I met him in the rue Grenelle coming out of the Archbishop’s house, the day he quitted the Church, after a scene which he told me all about.  Again I can see that priest walking with me along the deserted boulevard des Invalides.  He was pale, and his defeated but impressive voice trembled.  He had been summoned and commanded to explain his actions in the case of an epileptic woman whom he claimed to have cured with the aid of a relic, the seamless robe of Christ preserved at Argenteuil.  The Cardinal, assisted by two grand vicars, listened to him, standing.

“When he had likewise furnished the information which they demanded about his cures of witch spells, Cardinal Guibert said, ’You had best go to La Trappe.’

“And I remember word for word his reply, ’If I have violated the laws of the Church, I am ready to undergo the penalty of my fault.  If you think me culpable, pass a canonical judgment and I will execute it, I swear on my sacerdotal honour; but I wish a formal sentence, for, in law, nobody is bound to condemn himself:  “Nemo se tradere tenetur,” says the Corpus Juris Canonici.’

“There was a copy of his review on the table.  The Cardinal pointed to a page and asked, ‘Did you write that?’

“‘Yes, Eminence.’

“‘Infamous doctrines!’ and he went from his office into the next room, crying, ‘Out of my sight!’

“Then Johannes advanced as far as the threshold of the other room, and falling on his knees, he said, ’Eminence, I had no intention of offending.  If I have done so, I beg forgiveness.’