M. GUITREL: “His Eminence sometimes deigns to listen to me with kindness. The affability of His Eminence is extreme.”
M. LE PRÉFET: “Well! tell him that it is inadmissible for Saint Radegonde to come to life again in order to plague the senators, the deputies, and the préfet of the department, and that, in the interests of the Church as well as of the Republic, it is time to bridle the tongue of the fierce Clotaire’s spouse. Just tell His Eminence that.”
M. GUITREL: “Substantially, monsieur le préfet; substantially I will tell him that.”
M. LE PRÉFET: “Set about it as you like, monsieur l’abbé, but prove to him that he must forbid his priests to enter the Deniseau house, that he must openly reprimand the curé Laprune, condemn in la Semaine religieuse the speeches made by this mad woman, and officially request the editors of le Libéral to cease the campaign they are waging in support of a miracle both unconstitutional and contrary to the Concordat.”
M. GUITREL: “I will try it, monsieur le préfet. Certainly, I will try it. But what am I, a poor professor of sacred rhetoric, before His Eminence the Cardinal-Archbishop?”
M. LE PRÉFET: “He is intelligent, is your Archbishop; he will understand that his own interests, and the honour of Saint Radegonde, by the Lord! …”
M. GUITREL: “Doubtless, monsieur le préfet, doubtless. But His Eminence, so devoted to the spiritual interests of the diocese, perhaps considers that the prodigious crowd of souls around this poor girl is a token of that yearning after belief which torments the younger generation, a proof that faith is more living than ever among the masses, an example, in fact, which it would be well to present to the consideration of statesmen. And it is possible that, thinking thus, he may be in no hurry to cause the sign to cease, to suppress the proof and the example. It is possible …”
M. LE PRÉFET: “… that he may make fun of everybody. He is quite capable of it.”
M. GUITREL: “Oh! monsieur le préfet, there is no foundation for that assumption! But how much easier and more certain would my mission be, if, like the dove from the ark, I were the bearer of an olive branch, if I were authorised to say—oh! just in a whisper!—to Monseigneur, that the salary of the seven poor curés of the diocese, suspended by the former Minister of Religion, was restored!”
M. LE PRÉFET: “Give, give, that’s it, isn’t it? I will think it over. … I will telegraph to Paris, and I will bring you the answer at Rondonneau junior’s. Good evening, monsieur le diplomate!”