"Oh, but I sha'n't! I've been repenting all my life! Besides, there'll be no wrath for any of us—not even the worst! Il y aura amnistie générale! Papa told me so, and he'd been a clergyman, like Mr. Thomas Bagot. I often think about God. I'm very fond of Him. One must have something perfect to look up to and be fond of—even if it's only an idea!
"Though some people don't even believe He exists! Le père Martin didn't—but, of course, he was only a chiffonnier, and doesn't count.
"One day, though, Durien, the sculptor, who's very clever, and a very good fellow indeed, said:
"'Vois-tu, Trilby—I'm very much afraid He doesn't really exist, le bon Dieu! most unfortunately for me, for I adore Him! I never do a piece of work without thinking how nice it would be if I could only please Him with it!'
"And I've often thought, myself, how heavenly it must be to be able to paint, or sculpt, or make music, or write beautiful poetry, for that very reason!
"Why, once on a very hot afternoon we were sitting, a lot of us, in the court-yard outside la mère Martin's shop, drinking coffee with an old Invalide called Bastide Lendormi, one of the Vieille Garde, who'd only got one leg and one arm and one eye, and everybody was very fond of him. Well, a model called Mimi la Salope came out of the Mont-de-piété opposite, and Père Martin called out to her to come and sit down, and gave her a cup of coffee, and asked her to sing.
"She sang a song of Béranger's, about Napoleon the Great, in which it says:
"'Parlez-nous de lui, grandmère!
Grandmère, parlez-nous de lui!'
I suppose she sang it very well, for it made old Bastide Lendormi cry; and when Père Martin blaguè'd him about it, he said,
"'C'est égal, voyez-vous! to sing like that is to pray!'