at the august and sublime hour of holy communion, he
expected to hear the voice of Jesus speaking to his
heart and announcing the line of conduct he ought
to follow. The abbe was afraid of betraying uneasiness,
if he insisted on probing this “Christian mystery,”
so he returned with this answer, which was least of
all calculated to reassure me. He did not appear
again either at the castle or in the neighbourhood,
and kept himself so closely shut up in the convent
that few people ever saw his face. However, it
soon became known, and the prior was most active in
spreading the news, that John Mauprat had been converted
to the most zealous and exemplary piety, and was now
staying at the Carmelite convent for a term, as a
penitent from La Trappe. Every day they reported
some fresh virtuous trait, some new act of austerity
of this holy personage. Devotees, with a thirst
for the marvellous, came to see him, and brought him
a thousand little presents, which he obstinately refused.
At times he would hide so well that people said he
had returned to his monastery; but just as we were
congratulating ourselves on getting rid of him, we
would hear that he had recently inflicted some terrible
mortifications on himself in sackcloth and ashes; or
else that he had gone barefooted on a pilgrimage into
some of the wildest and most desolate parts of Varenne.
People went so far as to say that he could work miracles.
If the prior had not been cured of his gout, that was
because, in a spirit of true penitence, he did not
wish to be cured.
This state of uncertainty lasted almost two months.
XXI
These days, passed in Edmee’s presence, were
for me days of delight, yet of suffering. To
see her at all hours, without fear of being indiscreet,
since she herself would summon me to her side, to read
to her, talk with her on all subjects, share the loving
attentions she bestowed on her father, enter into
half her life exactly as if we had been brother and
sister—this was great happiness, no doubt,
but it was a dangerous happiness, and again the volcano
kindled in my breast. A few confused words, a
few troubled glances betrayed me. Edmee was by
no means blind, but she was impenetrable; her dark
and searching eyes, fixed on me as on her father,
with the solicitude of an absorbing affection, would
at times suddenly grow cold, just as the violence
of my passion was ready to break out. Her countenance
would then express nothing but patient curiosity and
an unswerving resolve to read to the bottom of my soul
without letting me see even the surface of her own.