After bidding his sister good-night, Monseigneur Welcome took up one ofthe silver candlesticks, handed the other to his guest, and said,--
"I will lead you to your room, sir."
The man followed him. The reader will remember, from our description,that the rooms were so arranged that in order to reach the oratorywhere the alcove was it was necessary to pass through the Bishop'sbed-room. At the moment when he went through this room Madame Magloirewas putting away the plate in the cupboard over the bed-head: it wasthe last job she did every night before retiring. The Bishop led hisguest to the alcove, where a clean bed was prepared for him; the manplaced the branched candlestick on a small table.
"I trust you will pass a good night," said the Bishop. "To-morrowmorning, before starting, you will drink a glass of milk fresh from ourcows."
"Thank you, Monsieur l'Abb?," the man said. He had hardly uttered thesepeaceful words when, suddenly and without any transition, he had astrange emotion, which would have frightened the two old females todeath had they witnessed it. Even at the present day it is difficultto account for what urged him at the moment. Did he wish to warn or tothreaten? was he simply obeying a species of instinctive impulse whichwas obscure to himself? He suddenly turned to the old gentleman, foldedhis arms, and, fixing on him a savage glance, he exclaimed hoarsely,--
"What! you really lodge me so close to you as that?" He broke off andadded with a laugh, in which there was something monstrous,--
"Have you reflected fully? who tells you that I have not committed amurder?"
The Bishop answered: "That concerns God."
Then gravely moving his lips, like a man who is praying and speaking tohimself, he stretched out two fingers of his right hand and blessed theman, who did not bow his head, and returned to his bed-room, withoutturning his head or looking behind him. When the alcove was occupied, alarge serge curtain drawn right across the oratory concealed the altar.The Bishop knelt down as he passed before this curtain, and offered upa short prayer; a moment after he was in his garden, walking, dreaming,contemplating, his soul and thoughts entirely occupied by those grandmysteries which God displays at night to eyes that remain open.
As for the man, he was really so wearied that he did not even takeadvantage of the nice white sheets. He blew out the candle with hisnostrils, after the fashion of convicts, and threw himself in hisclothes upon the bed, where he at once fell into a deep sleep. Midnightwas striking as the Bishop returned from the garden to his room, and afew minutes later everybody was asleep in the small house.