"'Now it is finished. I can no longer escape Him. But I have no fear of Him, Monsieur, I understand Him too well.'
"It was frightful to see this miserable creature, hardly able to breathe, talking in hiccoughs, opening an enormous mouth to eject some words scarcely heard, pulling up the cloth of his straw bed, and, under a cover nearly black, moving his meager limbs as if to save himself.
"Oh! frightful being and frightful remembrance!
"I asked him: 'You have nothing more to say?'
"'No, Monsieur.'
"'Then, farewell.'
"'Farewell, sir, one day or the other.'
"I turned toward the priest, whose somber silhouette was on the wall.
"'You will remain, M. Abbé?'
"'I will remain.'