Evening capital., 1890-12-15
IN THE MOONLIGHT.

All his beliefs were liked, without ever
a wavering. He thought that he pene-
srated the designs, the wishes, the
intentions of the Creator.
Everything in nature seemed to him
created with an absolute and admirable
logic. The Wherefore and the be
cause were alw VS. balanced. The
dawns were made TO render glad your
waking. the days to ripen the harvest,
the rains to water them, the evenings
To prepare for sleeping, and the
nights dark for sleep.
The four seasons correspond per-
fectly TO all the eds of agriculture;
and to him the suspicion could never
have come that nature has no inten-
tions, and that all which lives has bent
itself, on the contrary, to the hard con-
ditions of different periods. of cli-
mates, and of matter.
Only he did hate women he hated
them unconscionably, and he despised
them by instinct. He often repeated
the words of his Master, Woman,
what have | to do with thee ?' and he
added. Zone would almost say that
God Himself was l-Rleased with that
particular work Of His hands," Woman
was the tenlptress who had ensnared
the first man; she was the heing which
is feeble, dangerous, mysteriously
troubling And even more than her
weak body he hated her loving soul.
He had often felt woman's tender
ness attach itself to him, and, though
he knew himself to be unassailable, he
grew exasperated at the need of loving
which quivered always in their hearts.
Woman. t. his mind, had only been
created to tempt man and to prove
him. You should not approach her
without these precautions for defense
which you would take and those fears
which You would cherish near trap.
She was, indeed, Just like a trap, with
her arms extended and hcr lips open
toward man.
lie had indulgence only for nuns,
rendered harmless by their VOW: but
he treated them harshly notv4thstand-
ing, because, ever living at the bottom
of their chained-up hearts, of their
chastened hearts, he perceived that
eternal tenderness which constantly
weat crt t0 him. although he was
priest.
He was conscious of it in their looks,
more moist with piety than the looks
of monks, in their ecstasies, in their
conscious of it. of that aecursed tender
ness of their voices when they spoke
to him. in their lowered eyes and in
reproved them.
And he shook his casSock on issuing
from the doors of the convent, and he
went off with long strides, as though
he had fled before some danger.
Uo haH r,saaa xx,ho ltuaH NTH hor
mother in little house near by. He
was bent on making her a Sister of
Charity.
She was pretty, and hair-brained,
and great tease. When the Abbe
sermonized she laughed, when he was
angry at her she kissed him vehem-
emily, pressing him to her heart, while
he would seek involuntarily to free
himself from this embrace, which,
notwithstanding, made him taste a
certain sweet joy, awaking deep
within him that sensation of father
hood which sIumbers in every man.
Often he talked to her of God, OF
his God. walking beside her along the
footnaths through the fields. She
hardly listened and looked at the sky,
the grass, the flowers, with a JOY of
living which could be seen in her eyes.
Sometimes she rushed forward to
catch some flying creature, and, bring
ing it back, would cry, Look, my
uncle, how pretty it is; / should like
to kiss it.n And this necessity to
" kiss fiies'' or lilac berries, worried,
irritated, and revolted the priest, who
saw even in that the ineradicable
tenderness which ever springs at the
hpartS nf women
And now one day the sacristan's
wife, who kept house for the Able
Marignan, told him very cautiously
that his niece had lover.
He experienced a terrible emotion,
and he stood chol1ed with the soap
all over his face, being in the act Of
shaving.
When he found himself able to think
and speak once more, he cried: 1t IS
not true; you are lying. Melanie y
But the peasant woman put her
hand on her heart. Nav our Lord
Judge me if / am lying. Monsieur le
Cure. / tell you she goes to him every
evening as soon as your sister is in bed.
They meet each other beside the river.
You have only to get there between
10 o'clock and midnight and see for
yourself"
He ceased scratching his chin, and
he commenced to walk the room vio-
lently, as he always did in his hours
of gravest thought. When he tried to
begin his shaving again he cut himself
three times from nose to ear.
All day long he remained silent,
swollen with anger and rage. To his
priestly zeal against the mighty power
Of love was added the moral indigna-
tion Of father, of q teacher, of .
keeper Of souls, who has been de-
ceived. robbed, played with by child.
He had that egOtistical choking sensa-
ton, such as parents feel when their
daughter announces that she has
chosen husband without them, and
in spite Of their advice.
After his dinner he tried to read q
little, hut he could not bring himself
so far, and he grew angrler and an
grier. When it struck 10 he took
his cane, a formidable oalzen club
which he always carried when he had
to 90 out at night to visit the sick,
and he seemingly regarded the enor-
nous cudgel, holding it in his solid,
country mans fist and cutting threaten
ing circles with it in the air. Then
suddenly he raised it and grinding his
teeth he brought ii down upon a chair.
the back Of which, split in two, fell
heavily to the ground
he opened his door to 60 out, but
stopped upon the threshold, surprised
by such splendor Of moonlight as
y0u seldom see.
"a e.,soo ho 49, nva.rrad ,-;th an