The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-12-12

Hotel Dieu, Bianchon turned upon hi. heel and left the church. It 60 happened however, that Desplein invited his pupi to dine with him that very day as tho Trois- Freres; and there, lover the val. nuts and the wine," Bianchon adroitly managed to turn the conversation on to the subject of the mass, which he did mol hesitate to characterize as a mummery and farce.
 GA farce" grunted Desplein, "which has cost Christendom more bloodshed than all Napoleon's battles and Brous. sais' leechesl The mass is a popish in. vention dating only from the sixt, cen. tury, and based upon the hoo est corpus What torrents of blood weve split in the endeavor to establish the Fete Dieu, the institution of which the Rom an Curia re garded as trophy commemorative of it. triumph in the matter of the Real Pres. enceI The war of the Count of You. loase and the Albigenses were the tail. end of this affair. The Waldenses and he Albigenses refused to recognize this innovation"
 And having once launched out upon this theme. Desplein gave full rein to his atheistical verve, and poured forth an iu. terminable stream of Voltairian pleasan- tries. or to be more strictly accurate, a vile imitation of the Citateur.
 "Oaol' quoth Bianchon to himself where nov is my pous devotee of this morning '" However, he kept his mouth shut, and meanwhile he doubted whethe, tt really were his chief whom he had seen at Saint Sslpice. Nevertheless, had he chosen to broach the subj .ct. Despleir would not have taken the trouble to tell him falsehood; they knew each othe, too we'll by this time, aud had ere now exchanged ideas upon topics q lite as se- r'ous, and discussed systems de natura rerum, piercing them with the probe, and gashing them with the scalpel of incred ulity. We'll, three months elapsed, dur. ing wbich Bianchon allo we'd the matter to rest. although it did not escape his memory. However, during the course ct the year it one day happened tha, Bianchon saw one of the physicians ot the Hotel Dleu take hold of Desplein's arm, and heard him say, "What on earth could have taken you to Saint-Sulpice, my worthy master"
 "Oh, l went to see one of the priests who is suffering from carries of the knee. bone, and whom the Duchess of Angou leme did me the honor to commend to my care," replied Des slein
 The physician was satisfied with this explanation. Not so Biaochou. "Go to church to examine diseased knee joints Not hel He went there to hear his mass" Such was the students un spoken comment.
 Thenceforth he resolved to keep an eye upon Desplein's movements. He succeeded in recalling the day and hour when he had caught the eminent sur. geon entering SAint-Sulpice, and men, tally vowed that at the same hour on the next anniversary of the day he would pay another visit to the church, to see wheth. CT Desplein repeated his. lfso, the peri. od,city of his act of worship would justify Biauchon in investig ating the matter scientifically for the conduct and the convictions of such a man ought not, he felt, to be in fragrant contradiction When the day and hour arrived, Biau. chon, who had then ceased to reside und Desplein's roof, was on the look out, and sure enough he saw the surgeons s cab draw up at the corner sf the Rue du Peti.-Liou, and set down its m aster who made his way to Saint.Sulpice by tue most indirect route, and sinking along the walls, entered the church through O. C of the side doors. and proceeded to the Chapel of the Virgin, where he heard mass as before. Yes D spleln it certainly was Desplein the atheis, at heart the worshiper by hazard. The plot was thickening. The persistence of the emi- nent savant seriously complicated the whole affair.
 When the mass was over, and the soli. tary worshiper gone, Biauchon went up to the sacristan who came to undress , the chapel, and asked him if the gen tlemau who had just left was a regular attendant.
 |" I have been here these twenty years" replied the tunctionary. "and during the whole time Monsieur Desplein has come every quarter to hear this mass. 1t was he who founded it."
 "He found a massl" muttered Bian- chon as he withdrew. "Why, this is as profound mystery as the immaculate Conception itself whish alone is enough to make an in6del of any doctor"
 PART 1.-THE kXPLANATIoN.
 A long tune elapsed ere B anchon. in spite of his intimacy with Desplein. found an opportunity of tackling hi im upon this strange vagary of his. Meet as they