—It is for your interests, Monsieur le Curé, in short … the proprieties.
—My dignity is as dear to me as it is to you, my daughter, be answered sharply.
—Good-night, Monsieur le Curé; take counsel with your pillow.
XLI.
MORAL REFLECTIONS.
"Ah, poor grandmamma, what grand-dam's tales
You used to sing to me in praise of virtue;
Everywhere have I asked: 'What is this stranger?'
They laughed at me and said, 'Whence hast thou come?'"
G. MELOTTE (Les Temps nouveaux).
The Curé of Althausen had no need of reflection to understand the kind of shameful bargain which his servant had allowed him to catch a glimpse of.
The lustful look of the woman had spoken too clearly, and when he had taken her hand, he had felt it burn and tremble in his.
Then certain circumstances, certain facts to which he had not attended at first, came back to his memory.