“All that God does is natural,” replied the priest.
“Your phantoms don’t frighten me,” said the colossus, recovering his coolness.
“I did not come to frighten you, for I shall never speak of this to any one in the world,” said the abbe. “You alone know the truth. The matter is between you and God.”
“Come now, Monsieur l’abbe, do you really think me capable of such a horrible abuse of confidence?”
“I believe only in crimes which are confessed to me, and of which the sinner repents,” said the priest, in an apostolic tone.
“Crime?” cried Minoret.
“A crime frightful in its consequences.”
“What consequences?”
“In the fact that it escapes human justice. The crimes which are not expiated here below will be punished in another world. God himself avenges innocence.”
“Do you think God concerns himself with such trifles?”