"My poor child could not speak any longer, she fainted in my arms.
"But as soon as she recovered, without losing a minute, I dressed myself, and, full of an inexpressible rage, I directed my steps towards the parsonage. But before leaving my house, I had concealed under my shawl a sharp butcher's knife to stab and kill the villain who had destroyed my dearly beloved child. Fortunately for that priest, God changed my mind before I entered his room—my words to him were few and sharp.
'You are a monster!' I said to him. 'Not satisfied to have destroyed me, you want to destroy my own dear child, which is yours also! Shame upon you! I had come with this knife to put an end to your infamies, but so short a punishment would be too mild a one for such a monster. I want you to live, that you may bear upon your head the curse of the too unsuspecting and unguarded friends whom you have so cruelly deceived and betrayed; I want you to live with the consciousness that you are known by me and many others, as one of the most infamous monsters who have ever defiled this world. But know that if you are not away from this place before the end of this week, I will reveal everything to my husband, and you may be sure that he will not let you live twenty-four hours longer, for he sincerely thinks that your daughter is his, and he will be the avenger of her honour! I go to denounce you this very day to the bishop, that he may take you away from this parish, which you have so shamelessly polluted.'
"The priest threw himself at my feet, and, with tears, asked my pardon, imploring me not to denounce him to the bishop, promising that he would change his life and begin to live as a good priest. But I remained inexorable. I went to the bishop, made my deposition, and warned his lordship of the sad consequences which would follow, if he kept that curate any longer in this place, as he seemed inclined to do. But before the eight days had expired, he was put at the head of another parish, not very far away from here."
The reader will, perhaps, like to know what has become of this priest.
He has remained at the head of that most beautiful parish of ——, as curate, where I know it, he continued to destroy his penitents, till a few years before he died, with the reputation of a good priest, an amiable man, and a holy confessor!"
"For the mystery of iniquity doth already work:....
"And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming:
"Even Him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,