The countess stood before the chapel door, her breast heaving with emotion. She caught hold of the abbé's hand with a strong grasp, and kept him from turning the key in the lock. She trembled in every limb.
"What are those fearful tones?"
Then came a confused sound, as of many voices intoning the vespers. One voice, which imitated the monotonous delivery of the celebrant, began to sing in Latin the words of a hymn—
"Bacchus, prepare the libation."
Another voice answered in the same tone—
"And hasten, brethren, to drink!"
Then a third took up the text in a parody of the Gloria—
"Gloria Baccho, et filiæ ejus Cerevisiæ et Spiritui vini, sicut erat in Baccho natus, et nunc, et semper, et per omnia pocula poculorum. Stramen."
The countess felt her whole body turning into ice; fear mingled with horror. She understood the impious parody.
Now the organ accompanied the antiphon.